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V 



IJW 



THE 



Poultry Yard and Market 



A PKACTICAL TBEATISE ON 



GALLINOCULTUEE, 



And Descrlpiion of a New Process for 



HATOHIN 






G G S 
Raiskstq Poultry, 



AND 



FOR WHICH 



Prof. A:^C0RBETT. : 

NEW YORK : 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 

1877. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S7G, by 

Pkof. a. Cokbett, 

n tlie 0£&ce of tlie Librarian of Congresss, at Wasliiiigton, D. 0. 






TO THE READER. 

The extraordinary rapidity with which the first editions 
of this work have been exhausted, and the thousands of 
letters which have been received from readers in all 
parts of the country, are proofs that the public have 
derived substantial profit from my discovery. 

Among these readers I notice with much pleasure, 
many eminent writers for the press ; men who have de- 
voted their talents and intelligence to the benefitting of 
the large numbers of farmers and poultry breeders, v/hose 
toil has enhanced the national prosperity ; — and to these 
particularly do I dedicate this work. 

It was to increase the resources of these men and 
their families by poultry raising, that one hundred and 
twenty-five years ago, the celebrated Beaumur, member 
of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, after having sacri- 
ficed his time and fortune, discovered how to hatch and 
raise poultry by means of the heat generated by horse 
man-iire, and it w^as by continuing the study of this prob- 
lem, and by thorough, patient and expensive researches, 
that I have been enabled to teach the pubHc how to 
utilize this new process in all its workmgs, with perfect 
ease and success, and earned for me the numerous awards 
of various kinds, a Hst of which will be found further on. 

The usefulness of this work has been universally 
acknowledged, (see Opinions of the Press,) and its great 
fundamental principles rest on the foUo^dng important 
points : 1st, How to avoid loss ? 2d, How to increase 
productiveness? These any intelligent man is sure to 
consider, and to facilitate the means for both, has been 
my aim and desire, and such result should be obtained 
by all who read this book. 

The Author. 



OPINIONS OF THE PEESS. 



American Agriculturist, (July Isf, 1876 J 
Of late years there have been many efforts made to perfect a 
method of artificial incubation and to get rid of the hen, which 
unfortunately is too fussy and too slow for advanced ideas. Now 
that poultry bears so high a price, and young chickens for broil- 
ers are worth more than full grown fowls, it is very desirable to 
have some way of improving on the slow and unsatisfactory 
methods provided by nature. The most promising of all the 
methods, old or new, with which we have become acquainted is 
the invention of Prof. Corbett, which we describe and illustrate. 
Prof. Corbett has been very successful. We saw the proof of his 
success. The results of Mr. Corbett's investigations and ex- 
periences have been compiled into a book, entitled '' The 
Poultry Yard and Market." 



Neio York Weekhj Herald, (September SOtJi, 1S76.J 
The publishing house of Orange Judd has just issued a very 
interesting and useful book entitled, "The Poultry Yard and 
Market.'* It is a practical treatise on gallinoculture and a de» 
scription of the new process of hatching eggs and raising chick- 
ens by means of horse manure, the invention of Prof Corbett of 
Hicksville, N. Y., for which several medals were awarded him 
by alf the great exhibitions. It is replete with minute explan- 
ations which cannot fail to be of great service to farmers and 
breeders. Poultry, which is a source of great revenue in Europe 
generally, and in France particularly, has not received in Amer- 
ica all the attention it deserves, and it is really surprising that 
a country of such vast resources and as rich in products of all 



sorts as ours, should be compelled to import eggs from Europe. 
We see on page 32 of this book that 5,461,204 dozen eggs, 
valued at $732,234 have been imported from Europe in the 
space of eleven months and thrown upon the markets, notwith- 
standing the fact that by the time they arrived here they were 
at least forty days old. We believe that Mr. Corbett's invention 
will be of great service to our business men and breeders as an 
improvement of the greatest importance, for the consumption of 
eggs in this country is calculated to be about 60,000,000 annually. 
In France it is about 80,000,000 or $2.22 for every man, woman 
and child. 



Country Gentleman, (April 26th, 1877 J. 

Artificial Incubation. — We have recently received from 
the Orange Judd Co., New York, Mr. A. Corbett's little work 
on Gallinoculture, a manual of 96 pages, devoted to the history 
of artificial incubation and to the general care of poultry. In 
the artificial hatching and rearing of poultry, Mr. Corbctt claims 
to have discovered the only feasible method, which is at the same 
time cheap; and in his book he gives an account of the different 
methods tried, from the time of the worship of Isif? down to the 
present. The latter half of the book is c^evoted to poultry 
matters generally, and Avill be found useful by any one who 
keeps fowls, being the results of experience in raising poultry in 
large numbers. 



Southern Agriculturist. 

" The Poultry Yard and Market," a practical treatise on 
hatching eggs and raising poultry by horse manure, by Prof. A. 
Corbett, is published by the Orange Judd Co. Price, paper- 
bound, fifty cents; in cloth, seventy-five cents. This is a very 
interesting and useful book to the poultry breeder and housewife 
in the rural districts. This book will aid the farmer who possesses 



Ill 



a manure heap to batch eggs by artificial heat and thus hasten 
to the spring market a large number of chickens when the price 
is good. 



Long Island Farmer, 
The Orange Judd Co., New York, has just issued a very 
important as well as interesting work for the farming community. 
This work is entitled, "The Poultry Yard and Market." We 
have read this interesting work and are confident nothing has 
been published which will prove so important to the farming 
interest. He also explains the science of hatching eggs and the 
raising of poultry by the invention of Prof. A. Corbctt, by 
means of horse manure, for which a number of premiums have 
been awarded by agricultural societies throughout the country. 
The low price of fifty cents proves that the author does not 
desire to make a fortune, but to give the farmers the benefit of 
his great invention, and how they may make the raising of 
poultry a profitable business. 



Boston Traveller. 
"The Poultry Yard and Market," is a practical treatise on 
gallinoculture, by Prof. A. Corbett, the inventor of the famous 
artificial incubator. The pamphlet should be in the hands of 
all who devote time and attention to the raising of fowls. It 
contains a vast amount of information. 



Chicago Inter- Ocean, (April 19^7i, 1877J. 
*' The Poultry Yard and Market," by Prof. A. Corbett is a 
practical treatise on gallinoculture and a description of the new 
process of hatching eggs and raising chickens by means of horse 
manure. It is replete with minute explanations which can not 
fail to be of great service to farmers and breeders. 



IT 

Willamette (Oregon) Farmer. 
"The Poultry Yard and Market," is the title of a pamphlet 
sent us by the Orange Judd Co., which treats of artificial incu- 
bation and the way to raise chickens and keep hens for profit. 
This subject is worth possessing and as it can not be very ex- 
pensve many of our farmers' wives and daughters will like to 
send for it. 



Cincinnati Weekly Times, (April 19tJi, 1877J. 
Hatching eggs without the help of the hen is the easiest 
matter possible, and in no sense whatever contrary to nature, as 
Prof. Corbett ably demonstrates in " The Poultry Yard and 
Market." Every farmer and housewife should read this work, 
in which is shown that it needs simply a manure heap to accom- 
plish this result. 



Neiu York Weekly Tribune, (Sept. 15th, 1875 j. 
His process is alike valuable to the housewife of moderate 
means, passing her leisure moments in the poultry yard, as to the 
breeder on a large scale who seeks to supply great city markets 
with effffs and chickens. 



■'oo' 



3Ioore's Rural Neiv Yorker, (Oct. 2d, 1875 J. 
Fowls of all breeds and ages are there to be found in immense 
numbers; all of them in the best condition of health, and aK 
hatched and raised artificially. The system employed is the in- 
vention of Mr. Corbett himself, the sole caloric agent being 
horse manure. * * * The poultry raised by this method are in 
all respects as healthy and vigorous as any to be seen elsewhere, 
while, at the same time, none of them are lamed, as too frequently 
is the case by natural mothers. 



American Artisan, (December, 1875 J. 
Spring chickens by his process being ready for market all the 
year round, every month in the year, every week ia the month, 
and his process is alike valuable to the house-wife of moderate 
means, passing her leisure moments in the poultry-yard, as to 
the breeder on a larger scale, who seeks to supply great city 
markets with eggs and chickens. 



Philadelphia Sundaij Sun, (August 6th, 1876J. 
As all our readers may believe, this important discovery has 
caused a little revolution in the poultry breeders population. 
But this revolution is calming since Prof. A. Corbett has written 
a work in which he explains all his process. We have read this 
book and have found it the most valuable and the most inter- 
esting work for poultry-men and farmers, which has ever been 
published. Its low price of 50 cents, proves that its author 
does not want to make it a speculation. The name of the work 
is, "The Poultry Yard and Market." It contains also general 
hints, as says the author, acquired by twenty years experience 
in poultry breeding. 



Philadelphia Weekly Press, (Oct 30th, 1875;. 
Mr. Adolphe Corbett, the inventor of the process we are 
about to describe, is a young-looking man of forty years and a 
native of Belgium. He has devoted most of his life-time to the 
study of animals, and, besides being a frequent contributor to 
the scientific journals of France and the land of his birth, he is 
the author of several works on ornithology, &c. * * * During 
the last severe winter, with the snow lying several feet deep on 
the ground, he was almost overrun with young chickens, nearly 
all of them growing up into strong and healthy birds, notwith* 
standing the inclemency of the weather. 



American Artisan, (March, 1875 J. 
The artificial heat obtained from fermenting manure has xong 
been used in the forcing of seeds to early and strong germination. 
Precisely the same principle is adopted by Mr. Cokbett, the 
heat of manure-beds being employed to hatch his chickens. We 
recommend everybody interested in this subject to write to Prof. 
CoRBETT for his book (the price of which is only fifty cents), 
which will be found an extremely interesting pamphlet. 



Chicago Daily Tribune, (October 23cZ, 1875;. 
Chickens hatched and raised by the process above described 
are as healthy and vigorous as any to be found elsewhere, and 
they are incomparably more numerous than those produced })y 
W^iat is ignorantly termed the ''natural" method. Some farmers, 
ho'ivever, as well as many professional poultry-breeders, possess 
puch crowbar-like backbones that they cannot bend to any pro- 
posed improvement on the old style of doing things. 



New York Weekly Herald, (Oct, 1th, 1876;. 
About two years ago we informed the readers of the Weekly 
Herald that Professor A. Corbett, of Hicksville, L. I., was 
batching and raising poultry by means of horse manure. This 
discovery has been perfected and extensively known through the 
energy and perseverence of the inventor. He has also submitted 
his system to competent judges, who have awarded him various 
recompenses. * * * * In a new book which Professor Corbett 
has puljlished, entitled "The Poultry Yard and Market," he 
frankly declares that it is not to him that any honor is due for 
this discovery, but entirely to that celebrated Dr. Pveamur, who 
made many experiments, and who, on St. Martin's day, 1747, 
read before the Ae.i i 'my of Sciences in Paris, a report in which 
he gave an account of his experience and success. 



Vll 



Illustrated Weekly, (3Iarch Slst, 1877;. 
The idea of using the heat obtainable from manure for this 
purpose is not new. In 1747, on St. Martin's Day, the cele- 
brated scientist, Reaumur, member of the Royal Academy of 
Sciences at Paris, wrote to that Academy a paper setting forth 
and explaining his researches and success in giving life to the 
embryonic fowl by the heat of horse manure alone. But this 
valuable discovery has reached perfection through the labors 
and researches of Prof. Adolph Corbett. * * * * The discovery 
will undoubtedly be of great benefit to all who breed poultry for 
pleasure or profit, especially those who make it a business to 
supply the markets of our large cities. 



New York Sunday News, (Sept. 19th, 1875;. 
It is an old and true saying that "the man who causes two 
blades of grass to grow where only one was found before," is a 
benefactor of his race; and judging by this standard, Professor 
Adolphe Corbett deserves the gratitude of his fellow-citizens. 
* * * He hatches and raises poultry of all descriptions by the 
simple use of horse manure ; rendering hens entirely unnecessary, 
except for laying eggs. 

Daily Saratogian, (September 4:th, 1874;. 
Hatching Chickens Artificially. — The idea of hatching 
eggs by artificial heat is no new one, nor even the idea of using 
the natural, even heat of a manure pile. * * * After much ex- 
perimenting and expense, at last, in July, 1873, Mons. Corbett 
completed an invention, very successful in hatching healthy 
chickens, and said by good judges to be the great discovery of 
recent months. * * * A crowd stood about this exhibition hour 
after hour, and indeed it is one of the most interesting features 
of the fair. 



vni 

Chicago Weekly Tribune, (Oct. 2Uh, 1875J. 
Hatching eggs without the help of the hen is tlio easiest 
matter possible. * * * The vast crowds of young chickens to be 
seen, from time to time, at the Hicksville Institute, practically 
prove that the system there adopted is a correct one ; for the 
youngsters are as bright in plumage, ravenous, and active, as 
any to be found elsewhere, whilst the mortality amongst thera 
is incomparably less. The Corbett system is equally operative 
in the dead of winter as during spring, summer, or fall. 



Saturday/ Bevieiv, London, (Dec. 30th, 1876 j. 
Mr. Corbett's treatise on "The Poultry Yard and Market" 
would hardly deserve notice in these columns for its general 
remarks on a matter of trade and special department of farming; 
but it deserves a peculiar interest from the new method of 
hatching and breeding chickens, worked out and elaborately 
described by the author. The invention of this method he 
ascribes to Reaumur, well known as the inventor of the ther- 
mometer or thermometrical scale, chiefly used in Germany. 
This eminent scientific thinker seems to have applied his know- 
ledge of heat and its laws to the practical rearing of poultry, 
and his system depends on the generation of heat by decaying 
manure of particular kinds. 



M^^^ 



• — ♦ — 

UP TO THIS DATE, JANUARY 1st, 1879, 

PROFESSOR A. CORBETT, 

Inventor of the new process for Raising Poultry, described 
in the work, has received 

45 

Gold and Bronze Medals 



AND 



DIPLOMAS 



FROM 



¥l\e dei\tei\r|icil E(xl:(ilDitioi), 
¥l:\e dt^ili Ir(tei'rih.tioi\kl S^xpo^itioq, 



AND FROM 



The most Important States and County 

Agricultural Societies in the 

United States. 



CONTENTS- 



Page. 

Introduction 5 

The Artificial Incubation of the Past and Present 7 

Eesearches and Success with Horse Manure ■ 15 

The Value of the Eggs 21 

The Sort of Manure 28 

How to Use It 29 

The Best Breed 31 

Diseased Ji'eet in Chickens 32 

Infectious Water for Chickens 33 

Hens Sitting only Six Days 35 

How to See whether Eggs are Fertilized 36 

Twenty Dollars Profit from each Hen 37 

Prof. A. Corbett's Apparatus • . . 38 

Advise to the Ladies 40 

Amount of Profit from Twelve Hens 42 

How to Establish a Poultry Yard with $1,000 43 

Practical Eules for Making Money ,. . . . 45 

Care of Sitting Hens 51 

Helping Chickens Out of the Shell 52 

Cooked Food for Poultry 53 

Keep the Chickens Growing ~ 54 

Hens that Eat Eggs , 55 

The Number of Hens to a Eooster 59 

Keeping Eggs for Winter GO 

Fattening and Dressing Poultry for Market Gl 

Diseases and their Cure (1 

Cholera, Crop, Gapes, Pip, Eheumatism, Indigestion, 
Cramps, Lice, Soft Eggs, Feather-Eating, etc., etc. 
How to use Kerosene as a Good Curative 95 



INTRODUCTION. 



" There is notliing new under the snn," says Solomon 
the Wise, so that artificial incubations is also not a 
new thing, although litt]e practiced. In the most 
ancient times the Egyptians knew the art of hatching 
eggs without placing them under hens. These enlight- 
ened and wise people who had found every means to 
make life easy and pleasant only because they had 
sought it through agriculture, yet possessed several 
ideas which we have not yet discovered, and almost 
now despair to find out, and it is only by direct obser* 
ration and according to the harmonious laws of nature 
that such discoveries are made. It is hardly necessary 
to call the attention of the public to the manner in 
which birds set on their eggs. And every one knows, 
also, that there are some birds (hens for instance) which 
not only hatch out eggs that they have not laid, but 
even those also of other species. 

These pecuharities in revealing themselves to our 
notice have naturally led us to think there should be, 
perhaps, a means to obtain broods independent of the 
hen, since her intervention has been already shown to 
be insignificant, and without any regard to the species. 
This our apparatus does accomplish. I was convinced 
Al 



of the possibility of it on reflecting that even the sun 
could take the place of the bird — as it serves in some 
instances to hatch out eggs, we know. Thus the croc- 
odile, turtle and the ostrich bury their eggs in the sand, 
and it is the warmth of the sun that hatches the young 
ones. The example of the ostrich, especially, appears 
to be conclusive, and, therefore, I believe that if the 
sun could hatch out the eggs of the ostrich it would 
not be impossible to have a like success with other 
eggs by applying artificial heat. 

To-day the Museum of Natural History, in Paris, 
exhibits to the view of amateurs and the curious, enor- 
mous serpents born in hot-houses by the artificial incu- 
bation of their eggs. 

Nothing, in fact, is easier, says an author named Par- 
men tier, than to create the art of hatching eggs wii;h- 
out the aid of the hen. It only consists in imitating 
the process that chance has indicated to man and sim- 
plifies itself to this, to choose a place where the eggs 
can receive the same temperature that they would have 
under the bird that laid the eggs, and during the time 
that would be required to hatch them under her wings. 



ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 

Its Origin and its Antiquity. 

The art of artificially hatching hens' eggs has been 
known in Egypt and China for centuries. In Egypt 
the invention is attributed to the ancient priests of Isis. 
According to some historians, Isis and Ceres are the 
same benignant princes who reigned once over Egypt. 
According to others the art of agriculture is personi- 
fied under these names, and she was represented with 
a garland of ears of corn on her head, holding a lighted 
torch in. one hand and in the other a poppy, which was 
sacred to her. 

The priests of the temple of Isis, in Egypt as well as 
in Celt, appear especiall}^ to have been employed in ag- 
riculture and rural economy. The importance of this 
seems to have deserved a like institution since they 
studied this great science and extended its principles 
under the name of the goddess Ceres, who w^as the di- 
vine guardian of the fields and every kind of nature's 
produce. 

"Whatever it was it seems certain that the prosperity 
of the ancient kingdoms of Egypt, Damascus, Pales- 
tina, Jerusalem and Samaria was, in a great measure, 
due to the benefits they derived from the artificial 
hatching of hens' eggs. 

The ovens, or hatching places of the Egyptians, 
called in the country ma-mals, and which were very 
numerous in the kingdoms before mentioned, are now 
onl}^ in existence in Mansoura, in the village of Berma, 
situated in the Delta of the Nil. The latest historians 



give the name of Behamians to all the inhabitants of 
five or six villages, of which Berma is the chief and 
centre, and where the ovens are most numerous. The 
inhabitants of these villages are the only ones who to- 
day have preserved the hereditary industry of directing 
these ovens. 

On research I find that the ovens of Egypt alone in 
olden times hatched out annually one hundred millions 
of chickens ; even to-day the ma-mals of the Beha- 
mians still hatch out annually thirty millions, but his- 
tory is silent upon the kind of nourishment given to 
these chickens. But one will say, how is it that so 
flourishing and prosperous a business has for the most 
part disappeared from these countries, and is only found 
to-day in a small and limited province of the Egyptian 
Deita? I cannot account for it any more than that 
these countries have become barren and depopulated, 
which once, according to history, were fertile and inhab- 
ited, and of the destruction of towns and cities of 
which the ruins still exist and bear witness to their 
ancient splendor. 

To the Emperor Constantine is attributed a memoir 
upon the artificial incubation of the Egyptian ovens, 
so much did he consider the multiplication of every 
kind of poultry to the welfare of the nation. 

Another memoir on the same subject is attributed to 
Democrates, the ancient philosopher who was in the 
habit of crying with joy on beholding the beauties of 
nature in opposition to his companion, HeracHtes, who 
always laughed at the same. 

Plinus, the naturalist, and Diodorus, of Sicily, speak 
in their writings of the great benefits a nation would 
receive from this method. 

The history of the Egyptian ma-mals and the Chi- 



9 

nese boxes (these are only for hatching duck eggs) wag 
brought into Europe by the Pastor Juan Gonzales, of 
Mencloce, in Spain, and translated into French in 1600 
by Luc de la Porte. 

Before Gonzales' times historians had spoken of the 
Egyptian ovens, and amongst them Aristot, but theso 
had only written from traditions, whilst at Florence 
and at Naples they have already built these ovens or 
kilns. 

In the year 1415 Charles YII built some h Amboise 
in France, and Francis I., at Montrichard about the 
year 1540. These undertakings probably met with but 
little success, because these ovens were built according 
to hearsay or tradition. One of the Florentine dukes 
sent for an Egyptian director, and they say that this 
man succeeded well. Francis I also followed the same 
plan and met with a like success ; but, notwithstanding 
this, it was abandoned later. A physician of Nanterre, 
named Bonnemain, is the fii'st since 1777 to establish 
hatching ovens, which communicated their heat to the 
eggs by means of the circulation in tubes of hot water. 
Bonnemain tried every expedient, and, after several 
unsuccessful attempts, started an establishment at No. 
4 Eue des Deux Fortes, in Paris, and where he had 
these ovens sufficiently large, that he hatched out one 
thousand a day. He is often accused of exaggeration, 
but nevertheless history records the fact that he had 
chickens all the year round, and that he supplied the 
Imperial Court of France in all seasons, and that the 
pubHc markets were overstocked with his birds. The 
disastrous events of 1814 were the ruin of this fine es- 
tablishment. Bonnemain published a pamphlet in 
1816 giving a description of his ovens regulated by 



10 

fire, and he said his method was the result of fifty 
years' deep meditation and trials. 

In this pamphlet he does not give the key of his 
method, but asks for subscriptions to buy his ovens, 
and to induce amateurs to try it, he gives statistics of 
the profit each hatching gave every year. 

Bonnemain, moreover, assures us that he did obtain 
this success during fifteen years, and it was only after 
his establishment was ruined by the invading armies 
that he asks for aid and assistance from the govern- 
ment, capitalists, and amateurs ; but all failed him, 
either from disdain, want of confidence, or from pohti- 
cal motives. 

The price of his boxes was very high, the small ones 
costing $2 00 an egg, and large ones 75 cents. His fire 
regulator was considered a very useful invention. 

Martial Bonnes, mathematical professor and astron- 
omer in the observatory at Toulouse, wanted the gov- 
ernment to send a commission to Egypt to introduce 
the art of making these ovens or machines for hatching 
chickens, and to bring back at the same time expe- 
rienced Behamians to manage these ovens, etc. 

Another author, under the same administration of 
the Haut Rhin, I find has published also a book ex- 
plaining to the government the great importance of 
this importation to France. He says: "I would like 
to see these men and their machines enter France and 
estabUsh themselves in the palaces of our king ;" and 
then he adds : " The enemies of this enterprise will at 
first scoff at and ridicule the project of hatching chick- 
ens artificially, and mil have a thousand stories to tell 
of these hens' eggs, the quahty of their flesh, etc. ; but 
all these pleasantries ought not to discourage the un- 
dertaking, and they will pass away as smoke." 



' 11 

I can only join my good wislies to the hopes of these 
men — true friends to the prosperity of their country 
and to the welfare of every one, which would result in 
the multiplication of poultry yards. 

I will now relate the attempts that have been made 
of this kind by my contemporaries, and the success 
they have met with. 

In 1844, Mr. Bir, a merchant of Courbevoie, near 
Paris, sent to the exhibition of that year, a box for 
hatching, containing 60 eggs. 

In 1848 Mr. Vallie, keeper of the serpent gallery at 
the museum of the Jardin des Plantes, at Paris, sent 
also to the exhibition of that year, an incubator to 
hatch out 100 eggs. 

These two boxes, made after Bonnemain's model, but 
much smaller, were heated with lamps. Mr. Yallie 
even admitted that his box was not fit to be used on a 
large scale, but only as a piece of furniture for ama- 
teurs and the curious. About the same time, however, 
appeared the great incubator of Messrs. Adrien, Jr., 
&, Tricoche, who founded an establishment at Vau- 
girard. In 1853 Mr. Cantallo established an institu- 
tion of numerous incubators, and, according to the 
Enghsh papers, these are all heated with lamps, and 
he sends a large quantity of poultry to the London 
market annually. 

Dr. Preterre, dentist, of New York, has also devoted 
much of his time to artificial incubation ; I have seen 
and met him at the Farmers' Club at the Cooper Insti- 
tute, New York ; and in March, 1874, he exhibited 
several chickens which were hatched artificially by 
steam and also by means of horse manure. 

A great many certificates have been presented. 
There are also several patented incubators in the Uni 



12 

ted States. Some have the lamp on the top, otheis 
have it on the sides ; all have more or less pipes hold- 
ing mercury or alcohol. 

I believe I have now exhausted all mj information 
about recent incubators, and have posted mj readers 
in all that has been done in this line, and he can now 
form some idea of the different experiences that have 
been made to arrive at a practical and paying machine, 
for it is not enough to hatch eggs, but it must be done 
with profit ; for if, to obtain a few chickens, you must 
spend more than they are worth, or more than they 
will sell for, the thing is a failure ; and I have never 
heard that any great success has been attained by 
machines heated by lamps. One can easily understand 
that those persons who wish to engage in the raising of 
poultry, are much embarrassed, and hesitate before 
risking their money in an enterprise in which the best 
means to carry it out are still being looked for. Thus 
does it happen that, after due reflection and deep study, 
I have decided to found my establishment , and, before 
investing $40,000 in a poultry establishment, I certainly 
ought to thoroughly understand what I am undertak- 
ing, and even better than any other. I ought to be 
most interested in finding the most advantageous man- 
ner of applying artificial incubation. My first plan 
was to follow the natural raising of hens, etc., for, like 
many others, I had only a weak reliance on the present 
machines, for I have seen them in operation both in 
Paris and London ; but both proprietors told me that 
they did not believe it would be practicable on a large 
scale ; for an establishment that would contain 60 arti- 
ficial hatching boxes in operation ought to have 120 
lamps burning night and day Avith kerosene ; and there 
was great danger, to say nothing of the difficulty of 



13 

directing to an equal height such a number of wicks to 
give to each incubator an equal warmth. And how 
much money would it not cost daily for kerosene ? 

These considerations, added to those of the neces- 
sary expense required to buy these machines, were a 
very serious objection to me, and I was forced to reject 
this sj^stem, without condemning it, however. I bought 
several machines to try them ; those that gave me the 
greatest returns were kept in operation for a time ; but 
from one only a small percentage, and from another I 
never could obtain a single hatching, and thus it was 
that I did not spend much time with such expensive 
toys, and, at the same time, with such little profit. I 
still continued to look for some other way of arriving at 
the desired end, and to see if it was not possible to ob- 
tain practical and commercial results, for, if it was once 
found, I had before me an imj)oitant affair ; with my 
organization I could take care of any quantity of chick- 
ens that I could hatch. I then bought every book that 
treated of incubation, and you can judge my surprise 
when I found that each author recommended particu- 
larly a different machine. It was not long before I 
discovered that these recommendations were only com- 
plimentary, for I had already one of the machines thus 
strongly recommended by one author, and from which 
it was impossible to obtain the birth or hatching of a 
single chicken. But what struck me most was that 
only a few of them spoke of Keaumur's system, 
amongst which is Burnham, who mentions in his woik, 
at page 124, that Mr. Manowry, at Mouy, had adopted 
Beaumur's system. 

However, not being able to let him pass without 
mention, the greater number ingenuously say that he 
did obtain some success, but they take good care not to 

2 



14 

give any explanation ; this is easily understood, as tliey 
would have injured their favorite. Our astonishment 
changes into indignation when we read that these 
authors, who were so reserved about the celebrated 
E-eaumnr, were lavish in their praises of the sellers of 
the boxes without value (the rotten work of some tin- 
smith), who, perhaps, had money enough to buy the 
good vrill of the writer. 

Mr. Eeaumur was a clever French naturalist and 
author of several works, memoirs of great value, and 
several of his treatises are well known, and the best 
that were written before Buffon's time ; and, in con- 
sequence of these works, was made a member of the 
Koyal Academy of Sciences in Pads, where he read 
his first paper on St. Martin's Day, 1747, when the pub- 
lic of that time seemed to have judged as he had done 
of the great advantages to be expected of making a 
business of chicken raising ; and he further stated, 125 
years ago, that the multiplying of poultry yards, of 
which such a large number are consumed, could not be 
overdone. 

The Abbe Copineau undertook to perfect Beau- 
mur's method ; in 1780 he published a work called 
*' Artificial Ornithotrophie ; or. The Art of Hatching 
and Raising Poultry by means of Artificial Heat." The 
fe?ame work was re-published in 1795, under the title of 
*'Man Eival to Nature; or, The Art of giving Exist- 
ence to Birds, and principally of Poultry." In 1816 
the learned Bonnemain also published a very instruc- 
tive memoir, and of real value. So that at last we find 
a number of eminent men occupying themselves with 
this important question. 



15 

Researches and Success. 

The public will now understand from what sources I 
have sought to learn ; and after all the experiments I 
have made, I concluded, at last, that Reaumur's system 
appeared to be most feasible — it being the easiest and 
less expensive to follow. I, therefore, from that time 
began to practice it, thus : six casks w^ere placed in a 
heap of manure, and 600 eggs were placed in them. 
All were lost. It was in winter, and I thought that in 
the cellar the casks would keep at a better degree of 
heat ; but there not being room enough, and the want 
of ventilation, were the causes of mv failing. Not in 
the least discouraged, although disappointed, I again 
placed eight casks under an old shed, and this time put 
800 eggs in them ; the success would have been entire 
had not the rain fallen one day on part of the manure 
heap, which cooled it off. Nevertheless, from the other 
part I proved the success, and you can judge how de- 
lighted I was to see several hundred young chickens 
hatched. 

Let the reader rightly understand thnt we did not 
have entire confidence in the success to be derived from 
this venture at the time, as it was necessary to find a 
place to put the newly-hatched chickens in, which ap- 
peared to us like a true army of invaders. Those 
persons who have never seen hundreds of young 
chickens of one and two days old, can form no idea of 
the busy and noisy household. Luckilj^, we had an ar- 
tificial mother, warmed by one lamp, and I placed the 
young chickens in it ; whether it was the smell of the 
kerosene that was injurious to tliem, or whether the 
heat produced by the hot water did not accomplish the 
wished for object, I lost the greater number of them, 



16 

and I had the misfortune to prove that it was especially 
from crowding themselves in the corners that they did. 
This v>'as a bitter disappointment to me. As there was 
now no donbt that I could hatch the eggs with the aid 
of manure, it only remained to improve on the casks 
and mothers, and the manner of directing or regulating 
the heat, besides providing the proper and necessary 
ventilation, and to supply the necessary quantity of 
air. I first of all began my improvements on the 
artificial mother, in suppressing the corners as much 
as possible, and at last had one built without cor- 
ners, measuring twelve feet in length and ten feet in 
width, and warmed by two kerosene stoves. I thought 
myself very happy in having such a large artificial 
mother in which I could place 1,800 chickens of differ- 
ent ages. Everything was complete in it, park, perches 
and ventilation. Unfortunately, one night in April one 
of the lamps exploded and set the building on fire in 
which it was (which measured 200 feet in length, and 
cost $6,000). The dog gave the alarm, and soon every 
one on the farm Avas awakened, and commenced to 
extinguish the fire by means of the India rubber hose 
kept on the premises for such a calamity, and with a 
plentiful supply of water the building was saved by a 
miracle, but I was not so fortunate with my young 
brood — nearly all of them were smothered or suffocated. 
Again was I forced to resign myself to fate and give up 
the raising of my pullets artificially by means of lamps. 
The insurance company paid the damage to the build- 
ing, but the poultry was not insured. 

Having got over this loss I puzzled my brains to find 
a new system of raising them, and began to think I 
should have to renounce it, when the happy thought 
struck me to try the manure heap, and to see if I could 



17 

not make it do for the cliickens what it did so well for 
the eggs. I then placed a common box in the manure 
and put in it some newly-hatched chicks ; this was 
rather a bold proceeding, for the chances were that I 
should only find dead ones in the morning. Judge my 
surprise when at five o'clock in the morning I opened 
the box and saw all these little ones with their large 
e3'es open, waiting their first meal, and they were 
quickly fed. 

This, then, was the solution of the great problem. 
'Was it chance or luck ? Nevertheless I had before me 
the fact that there were animated beings born in manure 
and receiving the warmth necessary for their welfare 
from the same source. Having already received so 
many checks and deceptions, I hesitated and refrained 
from shouting "Victory !" — Eureka it might be. 

A few more days will show me what success I might 
depend on in using this means of raising them, and all 
those that were daily hatched received the same treat- 
ment. At length, after fifteen days' experience I had 
only to fight with the corners of the box. For those 
who have the opportunity of visiting an establishment 
for rearing young chickens, know full well how they 
will crowd into the corners ; the stronger ones mount 
on the backs of the weaker, and these are, almost in ail 
cases, victims to their companions. 

I now began to look for a box that would, in a cer- 
tain degree resemble the hen. Everybody knows that 
if she gives warmth to the chickens it is by covering 
them with her wings ; but again, if an account was 
taken of the number she crushes by treading on them, 
of those she loses in walking round with them, you can 
easily see that the raiser pays dearly for the heat she 
gives. I will admit there are some mothers patterns of 

2b 



18 

gentleness, tenderness and carefulness, and quite wor- 
thy of the praise and admiration bestowed on them, 
and will allow several authors to say all they can in 
their favor ; but if they were like myself, daily watch- 
ing them and convinced of the reality, they would soon 
see how very many in general, destroy their young ; it 
is by millions yearly that they could be counted. Up 
to the present time very few have troubled themselves 
about this great question, for the simple reason that 
this enormous loss being shared by all, it has not 
awakened the attention of the great poultry raisers. 
One of my neighbors who raises a great quantity of 
poultry, especially turkeys, lost in one day sixty -four 
chicks, their careful mothers having taken them off to 
a distance, when the rain came and they were lost. 
This man, a clever farmer, suffering so great a loss, has 
he ever thought he might avoid it ? I don't believe he 
has. 

In order that my apparatus should be good, I kept 
strict account of the heat given to the chickens by the 
mother, the movement of the wings and especially of 
the amount of air that penetrated under her. After 
several days' labor and combinations I succeeded in 
obtaining all these results, and I found I had replaced 
the hen with great advantage, for really my apparatus 
is much superior to the hen. The stomach and the 
•wings are, by a clever combination, beautifully imitated. 
Especially do chickens find this to be the case whilst 
growing up as well as when they are small. This 
apparatus having so admirably succeeded in raising 
chickens, why could it not serve also to hatch them ? 
To this important question I could not immediately 
reply ; so T began another experiment, and the first 
trial failed, and upon my making further researches I 



19 

discovered that what prevented the success of the incu- 
bation was simjDly in the quality of the wood of which 
tbe boxes were made. I then made another apparatus 
and new experiments, and at last succeeded. 

From this day I found I had solved an important 
problem, and that I could hatch and raise chickens 
without the assistance of any lamp, nor with any fire, 
and that manure alone would do it. Ah ! if Eeaumur 
could rise from his ashes how happy would he be to see 
these facts established, and I would wish to see present 
near the hatching broods those authors who have so 
little gratitude for this renowned man of the past 
century. 

"Every pen that is employed in the praise of any 
subject or industry does honor to the author who rend- 
ers justice to the merits of others, more especially when 
it alludes only to their memory." 

The Patent Right. 

Possessing my apparatus, my first business was to 
ask of the American and European Governments the 
protection that the law gives to inventors, etc. In 
granting me a patent every one who has seen my appar- 
atus has immediately recognized its importance, and 
the benefit each might derive xrom it. 

I have been advised to sell my patent to a company 
so that I might at once realize a large fortune, but I 
prefer to remain the sole owner, fearing that jgnce the 
apparatus is spread over the country our poultry and 
eggs would decrease in value in consequence of there 
being too large a quantity of poultry thrown on the 
market. Several of my friends have tried to dissuade 
me from this, and a gentleman of some celebrity and 
and of great talent made use of these words : " If I 



20 

had discovered tliis ingenious idea I would esteem my- 
self liappy to leave it to my contemporaries as a 
souvenir of my passage on this eartli." I replied, if 
3^our name was not already surroundec^ with glory I 
would propose that you add yours to mine. You have 
witnessed my trials, disappointments and hopes, and 
have not only consoled me at times but encouraged me 
to try again, and this share is only your right. He re- 
fused this offer and said if I would sell my apparatus 
he would buy one. Two days after I sent him one, 
begging him to accept it, being the only one that has 
left the Gallinoculture Institute, and instead of sending 
it to his country seat he has it for exhibition, and 
takes great pleasure in showing it to his friends. I 
will not divulge his name — not wishing to follow in the 
steps of a great number of venders who fill their pros- 
pectuses Avith honorable names it is true, but who, 
having no interest in the affair, and far from being 
satisfied with the merchandise sent them, perhaps are 
only to be pitied in having just cause of complaint. A 
good thing recommends itself, and there is no occasion 
to use any humbug to make it sell, and I wish it par- 
ticularly understood that I desire the welfare of my 
fi'iends and neighbors, the farmers of these United 
States, and work as willingly for their benefit as my 
profit, and any reasonable person can clearly see that 
the profits I derive from this book will never begin to 
pay me lor my time, money or labor bestowed on this 
patent, but expect a great deal from the interest the 
public will take in a business so simple and so inter- 
esting?, and offering such good returns for the time and 
attention bestowed upon it, and especially when a 
thing is really good the inventor generally begins to 
turn it to his own profit. But suah is not my preseufc 



21 

desire. What I have done at mj establishment with a 
great many of these apparatuses is to hatch and raise 
poultry of every kind — chickens, turkeys, ducks and 
Guinea fowls, and one reason why I have not delivered 
the machines to the public sooner, is that, as I before 
stated, I Avould not flood the market, and to a certain 
extent, put an end to the demand for poultry and 
eggs ; but now, from the reports and statistics received 
on this subject, I happily find myself deceived, and 
find that, notwithstanding the quantity raised, buyers 
at a fair price will always be found. 

The Value of the Eggs. 

In a work on poultry I find that in New York and 
Boston alone were sold $6,000,000 worth of poultry, 
which exceeds the commercial value of all the swine 
and half the value of all the sheep, the entire value of 
the neat cattle, and over four times the total value of 
the horses and mules. One large hotel in Boston uses 
an average of one hundred dozen of eggs daily, and 
another in Philadelphia cousumes one hundred and 
fifty dozen daily. The New York Evening Post subse- 
quently set down the value of eggs and poultry at the 
enormous sum of $265,000,000. 

It is easy to understand that from such an enormous 
business there must be a great profit to those who 
busy themselves in the poultry business, and if it were 
possible for me to get at the daily sales, and of which 
no account is taken, I am sure we should arrive at 
wonderful and fabulous figTires ; but although these 
United States are so rich in grain, mineral, lumber, 
and the different commercial productions, the first 
among which may be placed the raising of cattle, etc., 
yet they are obliged to send to Europe for a part of the 



22 

necessary quantity of eggs to meet the demand, a tiling 
almost impossible to believe, yet it is unfortunately but 
too true, and I could hardly believe it, until I had re- 
ceived it from the Hon. Ed. Youngs, Chief of the 
Bureau of the Government Statistics at Washington — 
several reports, which, unfortunately, are too sparsely 
scattered through the States — and one of these reports 
shows me that there was imported into the United 
States during a period of eleven months in 1872, 
5,025,958 dozens of eggs, being worth $688,796, and 
during the same time in 1873, 5,467,264 dozens, and 
worth $732,234. This increase is again repeated in 
previous years, not necessary to enumerate, for it would 
make these statistics wearisome. 

So it can be easily seen that there is no danger of 
overstocking the markets, and I firmly believe that the 
consumers would rather have their eggs fresh than 
coming from Europe, as the voyage would not improve 
their flavor. After having read these figures, one can 
fancy the astonishment of my friends, the readers, that 
so lucrative a business is not more generally followed 
and better managed. Why poultry does not take its 
place among other industries and occupy that rank 
which it ought to among commercial affairs is, that the 
thing is too simple ; and if I was to tell a father with 
two sons to teach them a trade of some sort, he would 
very likely reply they may be doctors or lawyers, and 
if I was to ask him the question: "Have you any 
fortune ? or, have your sons any disposition for those 
professions ? he would repty : " Not much ; and I 
don't know if they are so inclined ;" and suppose I 
hazarded the advice : *' Have them taught the art of 
raising poultry," I should make that man my enemy, 
and he might ask me if I took him for a madman. 



23 

Don't got angry, my friend, I might justly say, for it is 
not every one who can raise poultry with profit. Gen- 
erally every farmer raises some poultry, and his wife 
and children attend to this little affair ; he must go to 
the field and tend his corn, etc. ; talk to him of these 
crops, it is all right ; he may have a large barn to hold 
his crops, while he will have some old shed, dirty, etc., 
for his poultry, and they must hunt for their living, or 
at best, are only fed once a day. If you should visit 
any of the farmers, how seldom do you see a pail of 
water for the fowls ? No ; the thing is very rare, and 
seldom the owner will spend a cent to build a fowl 
house ; he would sooner put his money in the bank. 
Some will invest in raih'oad bonds that traverse the 
wilds of this vast country, and are fifty years before 
they pay any interest. Is it not so ? While on the 
other hand his poultry might bring him in two hun- 
dred per cent. 

Poultry has always been a source of revenue to the 
French people, as the following figures v/ill prove : In 
France there are about 40,000,000 hens valued at 
$20,000,000. One-fifth are marketed yearly for the 
table, bringing about $4,000,000 ; the annual production 
of chickens, 80,000,000, worth in the city markets 
$24,000,000, and $2,000,000 are added for the extra 
value of capons and fatted hens. The production of 
eggs is estimated at 40,000,000, making the total value 
of eggs, chickens, capons and hens annually sold, about 
$80,000,000, or $2 22 to every man, woman and child 
in France. The power to make much out of little, and 
to live frugally on small means and with limited re- 
sources to fall back upon, is the distinguishing trait of 
the French people and one well worth emulating. The 
eggs imported from France to England in 1874 repra- 



24 

senfed a value of $1,200,000, and from Belgium 
$300,000. 

The New York Herold was the first newspaper that 
published the particulars of my discovery, I was over- 
whelmed with letters and visitors. Several Agricul- 
tural Societies invited me to their fairs, and accordingly 
I attended Queens County, Suffolk County, Saratoga, 
Albany, American Institute, and New York State lair 
at Eochester, where the crowd of people appeared as- 
tonished and very much interested. At each of these 
exhibitions I had six apparatuses in operation, conse- 
quently I received a great many compliments on both 
my Incubator and the Mother, and I was also asked to 
give lectures on my system, which I was obliged to de- 
cline o^dng to my inability to speak English. The 
principal journals sent me their reporters who gave 
long and minute descriptions of my system, resulting 
in my being obliged to give increased numbers of per- 
mits to visit my establishment. It soon became very 
inconvenient to be incommoded every clay by visitors, 
even the Sabbath not being always respected ; so I was 
obliged to strictly limit the time of exhibiting my 
apparatus. During the Centennial it will be in the 
Agricultural Hall building. Column C. After the Cen- 
tennial I propose to have it on exhibition in New 
York. Persons interested in this can send me their 
address at my Box, 5170, General Post Office, New 
York, and I will send them an invitation. I also sent 
invitations to all the fancy breeders, about 2,700 in 
number, many of them coming over 200 miles to see 
me. 'I give in my circular several good extracts taken 
from long and interesting articles published by several 
newspapers most competent to judge of the merits of 
my invention. These articles proved very interesting 



25 

to the public, if I am to judge from the thousands of 
letters politeness required me to answer, and it would 
require a book ten times as large as this to answer all 
the questions that were asked in these communications, 
and hence I am under the necessity of dilating upon 
many matters which to some of my readers may ap- 
pear trivial. The information I have sought to convey 
will, I trust, be eminently practical though unadorned 
by any literary embellishment. 

I think it will not be long before this state of things 
will change, for I find every day that the hatching and 
raising of poultry is receiving serious ameliorations. 
Already many people have adopted my system, not only 
in the United States, but also in Europe, from where I 
get orders. The New York Sun of the 3rd of July 
1876, had a long editorial in reference to artificial incu- 
bations, and mentioned a gentleman in New Jersey who 
has invested $60,000 in the poultry business. The 
time is not very far distant when the capitalists will 
seek to invest their funds in this business, the only one 
where there are no risks to run. Our farmers also will 
learn to employ their time in Winter I trust, and will 
find more than enough profit in the sale of their Spring 
chickens to pay for the manure they will require in the 
culture of their fields for the ensuing year, and which 
I think they will allow is sufficient remuneration for 
the trouble they may have taken. The time mil come 
when we shall see signs in all the cities, "Chicken 
Manufactory," and every family who has a house will 
raise its own poultry the same as it now makes its 
bread, butter and cheese. I know of a good many 
countrymen, who, I am sure will not be sorry to give 
up his pork and beef. 
3 



26 

Many of my readers may be astonished that the 
farmers have not thought of using manure for hatching 
out young chickens, since nearh^ 100 years have passed 
since Eeaumur promulgated his discoveries to the 
world, Helas ! Yes, it is true, but then you know it 
was such a simple thing and so easy to do that no one 
would bother with it, and especially as no one could be 
found to puff it, and nothing to be made in giving it 
the publicity it deserved, whilst a machine with lamps 
(there was some chance of making a business of it with 
enormous profit for the maker) receiyed its due amount 
of brag. 

Chance, however, is sometimes the origin of many 
things, and now and then clears away the clouds that 
lead to fortune. I had just finished my experiments 
when I read in the Commercial Advertiser of New 
York, of the 25th of June, 1874, the following : 

AKTIFICIAL INCUBATION. 

" A lady residing near the Sisters' Hospital keeps a 
half dozen or more hens, and has been astonished at 
the strange manner in which a nest full of eggs was 
hatched. A quantity of manure had been thrown from 
the stable, and yesterday the children heard young 
chickens in this pile. They at once called the attention 
of their mother to the fact, who, to solve the mystery, 
directed that the heap be pulled down. When this 
was done, a short distance from the surface a cavity 
was discovered in which were nine little chicks. The 
hen had managed to make her nest in the heap, and 
after laying eleven eggs, the opening had been closed 
by the stablemen piling on more of the cleanings from 
the stable. The warmth generated in the heap had 
incubated the eggs, and nine of the eleven hatched 
out. This may be a discovery which some one may 
turn to account." — Faterson Guardian, 



27 



The Inventor. 

I sincerely hope that all those who have fowls will 
not hesitate to hatch some eggs in manure ; and as I 
am certain they will derive a handsome profit from 
doing so. Before concluding this little work I ask per- 
mission to give the biography of the Hon. M. de Keau- 
mur, who was the first to make this great discovery. 

Kene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur was born at La 
Eochelle, France, the 28th of February, 1682. After 
having graduated at Bourges, his fortune allowed him 
to pursue the study of the sciences to which his inquir- 
ing mind led him. The early part of his life was given 
to the useful arts, and it is to him that France owes 
her manufactures of steel and tin. Opaque glass was 
also his invention, but the work that has rendered his 
name immortal is called "Memoires pour servir a 
I'histoire dts insectes," 6 volumes, 1734-1742. 

These memories reveal in each page the exact and 
minute details of the caterpillar, moth, butterfly, grub, 
fly and bee. 

He was still employed on his work when he met with 
an accident at his estate of Bremontier, in Maine, 
which hastened his end, and he died October 17th, 
1757. He had collected a splendid assortment of 
insects which he left to the Academy of Sciences, of 
which he was a member. Eeaumur also published 
v/orks ujDon shells, upon the artificial hatching of eggs 
by heat, and upon the keeping of eggs by means of 
greasing them. 

In 1731 he constructed a thermometer, to which his 
name stiU remains. 



28 



The Sort of Manure— How to Use It. 

The manure to be used for hatching eggs or raising 
the young chickens must be taken from horses fed with 
grain, (the manure of a horse fed only on grass or haj 
having very httle heat in it) and it ought to be several 
days in the manure yard, or even a month, and it might 
be advantageously mixed with that of the mule, which 
contains a great deal of heat ; this is not actually ne- 
cessary, but as some of my readers no doubt will have 
mules, especially in the South, I have thought it neces- 
sary to mention this fact. 

The manure ought to be pure, that is to say, any 
extraneous matter such as old rags must be shaken out 
so that nothing but the fine straw and the dung well 
mixed, is used. That which has lain all the Winter in 
the yard and become frozen and full of snow and ice, 
cannot be used with success unless the sun has melted 
them and the heap has been turned over. That taken 
from the middle of the pile where it is not frozen, may 
of course be utilized. 

For artificial incubation the manure must be handled 
with as much care as a skillful gardener uses in making 
a hot bed for his plants, and the building best suited to 
place the apparatus in is one in which the air circulates 
freely, and without a boarded floor ; the temperature 
ought to be as near equal as possible, a building cov- 
ered with glass being consequently unsuitable, that is 
to say that when a heap of manure is placed in such a 
building, the sun shining on it increases the heat con- 
siderably, while at night the temperature is lowered 
several degrees, thus causing endless trouble in regu- 
lating it. This difficulty I experienced at the Albany 
Fair where the Agricultural Society placed at my dispo- 



29 

sal tlieir splendid Floral Hall, built entirely of glass, 
but I found the lieat 120 deg. during the day, and 
hence it became no easy matter to maintain my appa- 
ratus at the desired temperature. The Society there- 
fore erected a special building into which I removed 
my apparatus, this considerate act of kindness relieving 
me of all further anxiety in this direction. One must 
therefore have as plain a building as possible, for no 
other heat is required than that derived from the heap 
of manure, and that is even more than sufficient, for it 
will retain its temperature for 40 or 50 days Avithout 
varying a great deal, and the reader, who wishes to tiy 
my system, can place in the middle of such a building 
a heap of manure, six feet square, taking the precau- 
tion of forking it over carefully and handling it as be- 
fore mentioned, being careful not to tread on the 
manure. It ought to be packed closely, but not trodden 
dov/n, and when the heap is 18 inches deep the hatch- 
ing apparatus is placed in the middle ; a barrel or a 
box of any description will answer, but the wood must 
not be too thick (a flour barrel is as good a thing as 
any) and there must be a cover on it and a system of 
ventilation arranged to regulate the heat, after which it 
must be carefully covered with manure to make the 
heap square. After two days one ought to have about 
120 deg. of heat, but it would be imprudent to place 
the eggs in the receptacle or box with which he wishes 
to make the experiment either of hatching or rearing 
the chicks, but care must be taken to diminish the heat 
to 100 deg. or 102 deg. ; then the eggs may be placed 
in it and kept at 102 to 105 degs., care being taken to 
take them out every day to cool, and to exclude frost 
from the building, for the sudden change from hot to 
cold Wf^ild kill the bird in the shell, but still they luust 
3o 



30 

have air, for air is tlie life of the chick, and conse- 
quently if the raiser finds the hatch amounts to only 
five or six out of thirteen or sixteen eggs placed under 
the setting hen, the fault is generally from the ciose 
setting of the hen, and this malady is such that it fre- 
quently happens they die on the nest. 

It is therefore necessary that every one who makes a 
business of poultry raising should take the setting hen 
off her nest and feed her or turn the eggs. The feed- 
ing should not take longer than 20 minutes. It being 
proved that air is indispensable, one must therefore 
give it to the egg while in process of hatching, the same 
as if it were covered by the hen. Artificial hatching 
is only imitating nature, and therefore it is important 
that whatever nature requires must be imitated in the 
minutest details, no matter how simple it appears, for 
often on what appears to be but a trifle, success de- 
pends. I cannot too strongly recommend those who 
make a business of poultry, to entrust to only one per- 
son, and that a reliable one, the management of the 
Incubator as well as the care of the poultry. No other 
business more imperatively demands the services of an 
employee in whom implicit confidence can be placed. 
During my residence in London I have frequently 
known capitahsts engaged in the raising of poultry. I 
visited one fine establishment and refused the manage- 
ment of it because it was too difficult to oversee the 
hands employed, and after spending more than $200,- 
000 the stockholders withdrew. I therefore say to all 
those who wish to engage in the poultry business that 
they ought especially to work themselves, if not, suc- 
cess is impossible, for there are a hundred indispensa- 
ble points, the non-observance of which will inevitably 
entail failure. 



31 



The Best Breed. 

I have frequently been asked what breed of hens ig 
the best? This question is very difficult to answer, 
from the fact that all depends upon the purpose for 
which they are kept, whether for profit or pleasure. To 
those who keep them only for pleasure I do not wish 
to give any advice, as taste and color are a mere mat- 
ter of fancy, but to those who wish to make money out 
of them I would say that in a warm climate and where 
eggs are the main object, I would prefer the Leghorns, 
as they are good layers but bad setters, and even to 
those who wish to use incubators, the eggs of these 
hens give chickens difficult to fatten, and they never 
weigh enough, and as poultry is sold by weight, there 
is nothing to be made by them ; but if, on the contrary, 
it is desired to market them, the White Bramah or 
Buff Cochins should be selected, which give nice chick- 
ens, easily raised and readily fattened. There are cer- 
tainly other excellent varieties, but the two that I have 
recommended are my choice, and I only state what my 
long experience has proved. I have had some of every 
desirable sort, and I am certain all the raisers of poul- 
try are of my opinion. 

One of the most essential points is to feed hens with 
the least possible expense, especially where a large 
number is kept ; this is a very important point, and the 
poultry raiser wiU do well to keep it steadily in view. 
The farmer who has 50 or 60 hens is satisfied to throw 
them a few handsful of corn every day, but when one 
makes a business of it, it becomes a much more serious 
affair. I can not too strongly recommend as food, tiio 
refuse from the hotel kitchens for laying hens, but it 
should never be given to the young chickens, there be- 



32 

ing notliing so bad as meat for tliem. I was foolish 
enou«-li to follow the advice in a contrary direction, 
given in a work, the name of whicli I withhold out of 
politeness, but I paid dearly for it in the loss of an in- 
numerable quantity of chickens. Meat does not digest 
quickly enough and cannot find a passage as quickly as 
meal ; the consequence is, that after a few days the 
chickens die. This great mortality caused me to make 
many researches in other books ; finally I wrote to 
several newspapers in Europe, and one of them sent 
me the following : 

Diseased Feet in Chickens. 

Under the above heading we find in the London 
Fancier s Gazette of Nov. 6, a communication from M. 
Leno, an old and soiiiewhat famous breeder of chick- 
ens, in wdiich he says : 

"During the last twenty-six years I have been solici- 
ted by near neighbors to unravel, if possible, the mys- 
tery of diseased feet in chickens, which included young 
turkeys, pheasants and poultry. I found the toes of 
many completely eaten off, some crumpled up with 
sores, others with toes turned under the foot, and of 
course many deaths, as they could scarce move about. 
I made the most careful inu^uiries of the several indi- 
viduals as to the food given to them, and in every case 
I found a large quantity of animal food was being 
used. I oiKlered the meat to be discontinued at once, 
the result of which was that not a single bird fell with 
the disease that had not been fed with the meat, prov- 
ing to my mind that the disease was caused through 
the too liberal use of animal food ; and the other cases 
I inspected were siniilarly affected to mine. 

My opinion, founded on long experience as regards 
so-c.'illed cramp in young pheasants and poultry, is that 
it is caused by a too bountiful supply of animal food, 
and not by wet ground. I know many game and 



33 

poultry rearers will believe me to be on the wrong 
scent ; but when so-callecl cramp makes its appearance, 
reduce the quanty of animal food and note the result. 
I am not against the use of animal food, for I know, if 
judiciously and sparingly used, it is a very great help ; 
but overdo it, and the lesult will prove very disastrous." 

Infectious "Water for Chickens. 

Several persons having poultry keep pigeons also. 
This practice is prejudicial to the hens, etc., and as it 
is imprudent not to take every precaution, I will 
quote one case. A resident of Staten Island called 
upon me and requested me to pay a visit to his poultry 
yard ; all his stock, he said, were sick, and the mortal- 
ity very great. I felt it to be my duty to assist him 
with my experience, so I -went to his house, which I 
must say was kept in anything but a proper manner, 
and I found he had seven or eight hundred hens of 
different kinds, and very badly chosen were they. After 
having examined thirty or forty of them I told this un- 
fortunate breeder to change the water in the drinking 
fountains. He took the water from a cistern and I 
asked him where the water came from that filled it, and 
he said from the roof of the hen house. Now as there 
were more than one hundred pigeons on it continually, 
it was apparent that every shower of rain washed their 
manure into this cistern, and that the water he gave 
his fowls contained a strong acid and was acting on 
them as a slow poison. I ordered a purgative, pure 
water and to change the food, and the following week 
the sickness had disappeared ; therefore if you keep 
pigeons give the fowls water from a well. 

Many persons believe every egg contains a chick > 
those who do so, labor under a great mistake. If 1 
wiish to offer a friend a pure egg I would give him one 



'64: 

from a hen fed on corn and from a yard where no roost- 
ers are kept ; but if on the contrary I wish to hatch 
them, I would take them from one where there were 
several and which were fed on hotel refuse, especially 
in the "Winter season, for then only a few are fit for 
hatching, for two reasons. 1st. At that season nature 
is sluggi&li. 2nd. That the hens remain nearly all day 
on the roost and the roosters have not the same chance 
as when they are running in the yard. Every one who 
has the requisite knowledge to raise poultry with profit, 
takes the precaution to double the number of the roost- 
ers that run with their hens in winter, and every day to 
drive the hens out of the house to pass a few hours in 
a yard or piece of ground near the poultry house, 
covered in with glass so that the sun may enter. In . 
ordinary calculations twice two makes four, except in 
the poultry business, when nearly always twice two only 
make three ; that is to say, any one having 100 hens 
will find they give them a profit, but if they have 200 
they will find generally a loss unless well posted in this 
matter. In keeping hens there is a right way and a 
wrong one, and very few know the right one ; the art 
of raising poultry with profit depends on a number of 
little things, essential points, which put together, lead 
the raiser either to ruin or a fortune, and I hope that 
my experience will be of use to others, for I firmly be- 
lieve few are disposed to make the sacrifice that I have, 
and the reader will find in this little book all that I have 
been able to collect in the way of valuable information 
from the principal breeders and authors, but I don't 
think any of them have been able to discover a way to 
hinder the hen from sitting, at least. With my system 
they sit only a few days, and this is the rational of the 
process. 



35 



Hens Sitting only Six Days. 
Having alwa3^s eggs in my apparatus, directly a ben 
wishes to sit I give her those taken from the apparatus 
and which in consequence have passed thirteen or fif- 
teen days in incubation by the heat of the manure, 
therefore the hen has only to finish the hatching already 
begun. I then leave her ten days with the young chick- 
ens. After this time she is put back again in the poul- 
try house ; hence, instead of losing three months of her 
laying she only loses fifteen days, and for those who 
have a great many hens this is of great importance. 
The chickens are then placed in the raising department 
where there are hundreds of young ones of every age. 
To lead a regiment like this to the fields, I placed in 
the poultry house a mother selected for the purpose ; 
she guarded all my ducklings, chickens, young turkeys, 
every variety of breed and color, and nothing was more 
pleasing than to see her, a fine White Bramah walking 
about with four or five hundred little ones, and when 
she rested one might see her surrounded like a general 
with his staff, and at night she stretched her wiugs, so 
ambitious was she to try and cover them all ; but the 
greater number went of themselves under the artificial 
mothers. I therefore advise all those who raise poultry 
artificially to follow this plan, and if unable to get so 
good a hen, when the chickens are two days in the arti- 
ficial mother, to place two or three young chickens a 
little older with them, and whether they come from the 
mother or the artificial one, these will act as school- 
masters, and will teach them to eat and drink and run 
in the yard. One ought never to let a hen and her 
young ones, or those out of the artificial mother, go out 
until the sun has dried up the dew with which the grass 



36 

is covered every morning. Another point to whicli I 
would call attention, is the method of discovering 
%yhether an egg is fertilized or not ; people generally 
take the egg to a candle either before or after it is 
placed under the hen ; some place it in a bowl of water 
and say that if it sinks it is impregnated, and if it 
swims, it is not. The surest way is this : 

How to tell whether Eggs are Fertilized. 

After the eggs have been hatching five or six days 
either under a hen or in an incubator, take a lamp into 
a darkened room and hold the egg before the light ; if 
it is fertilized it will show a small black speck, and in 
turning the egg round with the fingers you will perceive 
that it moves. (In about twelve hours can be discerned 
the commencement of organization in the gelatinous 
spot called the germ, which is always in the upper part 
of the yolk whatever the position of the egg. At the 
end of the first day the head and the back bone can be 
distinguished ; at the end of the second the vertebral 
and the heart ; the third contributes to the develop- 
ment of the heart and the breast ; the fourth to that of 
the eyes and liver ; on the fifth the stomach and kid- 
neys are discernible ; the sixth the lungs and .^skin ; 
the seventh the intestines and the beak ; the eighth the 
bladder of the gall and the verticles of the brain ; the 
ninth the wings and legs, and on the tenth day all the 
parts which are necessary to complete the bird are in 
their place, and are developed and attain during the 
following days their proper size.) If on tbe contrary 
this speck is stationary, that is to say stuck to the shell, 
the cliick is dead ; all eggs that have not this black 
speck are clear and still good to eat. You can never- 
theless assure yourself of this fact by breaking two 



37 

eggs into a cup ; that with the black speck will show a 
little blood, while that without it will not have this. 
This black speck will be much larger when the roosters 
are in good condition. It often happens that eggs are 
left in the nests of the hens and consequently are sat 
upon several days, and if these eggs are kept a day or 
two before being placed to hatch, this interval is suffi- 
cient to kill the chick which has already begun to 
form ; therefore the eggs ought to be gathered twice a 
day from all the nests, care being taken not to shake 
them. Twenty days after being laid' an egg cannot be 
put to hatch with any certainty of success. The dura- 
tion of time is the same for hatching eggs in an incu- 
bator as under the hen, thus — hens' eggs take 21 days, 
ducks 28, turkeys 29, Guinea hens 27, pea hens 30, and 
geese 32. Eresh eggs are generally one or two days 
earher. 

Twenty Dollars Profit from each Hen. 

A savant has said that to eat an egg is hke eatiug an 
unripe fruit, and I am going to try and demonstrate 
what truth there is in his reasoning. Let us take for 
example the hen ; she lays, we will say, on an average, 
130 eggs annually ; she sits on, say 12, and hatches out 
of this number, seven or eight chickens ; there remains 
118 which are not sat upon and in consequence have 
not become flesh to eat; if the raiser has sold these 
eggs at two cents each, it is because he did not know 
how to convert them into chickens which could be sold 
at from 50 to 60 cents each. Now let us see the differ- 
ence as a business transaction : If all the eggs were 
turned into chickens instead of being sold as eggs at 
two cents each, it being understood that the hen sat 
upon 12 eggs, we must only place the figures upon 
4 



38 

tliose that were turned into poultry ; thus 118 eggs at 
two cents each give $2 36. Now let us suppose them 
hatched out by means of an incubator ; there would be 
about 100 of them that would reach the market ; allow 
for cost of feeding them, $10 ; one cannot of course 
expect that they would all live so v/e will allow 10 per 
cent, for deaths, etc., there still would remain 90 chick- 
ens at 50 cts. each, making $45 00, from which sum we 
must deduct their value as eggs, $2 36, food $10, and 
we will say for labor, etc., another $10 00, making a 
total of $22 36 to be deducted, leaving over $20 00 
that a hen might be made to make as profit. The 
reader may perhaps be surprised in looking over these 
figures, and perhaps more astonished that we have not 
a larger established poultry business ; but to arrive at 
this it will take a longer time than one would suppose. 
For more than twenty-five years meat might have been 
imported into England, and yet it is only this year that 
a good method of preservation has been discovered, 
I really hope that in the next century they will call us 
savages for having compelled a hen to sit 21 days on 
her eggs just to give her 102 deg. of heat ; it certainly 
would be more humane and more advantageous for the 
raiser to let her lay eggs. 

My Apparatus. 
I would have liked in this work to have given some 
details about my apparatus, that is to say, its propor- 
tions and dimensions, how it is made, how to place the 
eggs in it, how it is managed, and how the incubator is 
changed into an artificial mother that is able to cover 
the chicks one day old as well as those of a month, 
which are naturally larger, but I have not done so, be- 
cause with each apparatus I send out a guide which 



39 

fully explains all tliis, and I am sure that every con- 
scientious reader will understand that for the price at 
which this book is sold I cannot give every one the 
facilit}^ to make an apparatus to save the few dollars 
that he v/ould have to pay me for my patent, while I 
have passed several years and expended a fortune to 
perfect the invention. "When I allowed every one to 
see them there were some unscrupulous persons, who 
after coming to see me two or three times and causing 
me much annoyance and loss of time, had apparatuses 
made very nearly like mine. Dishonest persons are 
found everywhere, but so are honest ones, and my 
thanks are due to one of the latter who informed me 
that his neighbor had infringed my patent right, and 
my lawyers made this man pay dearly for his audacity., 
A Mr. I. of P., after having written several letters to 
me, asked where he could see an apparatus in the 
neighborhood; without suspecting his design I gave 
him the address of one person ; he went twice to see 
him and caused him a great deal of trouble, as he had 
some eggs hatching at the time ; by continually opening 
the cover he deranged the temperature ; this person 
wrote to tell me not to send him any more curious 
people as it was very disagreeable to him and contrary 
to my interests, as this visitor also made an apparatus 
after the model of the one he saw in operation. This 
is very discouraging and necessitates great vigilance in 
guarding my own interests. I have no desire to pro- 
vent any intelhgent man from reaping the benefits of 
my discovery ; I shall be only too happy to assist him, 
providing he remembers that there are laws that protect 
patent rights. The number of inventors who have 
died poor is considerable, and I do not propose to be- 
come an addition thereto. I am not acquainted with 



40 

any one connected with the newspapers or in any soci- 
ety, neither am I indebted to any one for the awards I 
have received in appreciation of my labors, and if the 
papers have devoted whole columns to my discovery it 
is simply because it was interesting to their readers 
and not on any account because it was intended to 
oblige me. All the intelligent readers will see in scan- 
ning the lists of the papers which have commented on 
my apparatus, that they are journals whose managing 
staff of editors it is impossible unduly to influence or 
to buy. 

To the Ladies. 

The husband generally, is supposed to be the bread 
earner of the family, and I now call your attention 
seriously to the following : 

Every mother is more or less troubled for the future 
welfare of their families, and I would not wish them to 
lose sight of this fact. I have known many families 
who were very comfortable during their husband's life, 
but at his death are placed in straitened circumstan- 
ces, if not in actual poverty. What business can the 
mother follow if she has been the wife of a merchant's 
clerk and able to keep her own servants, but the re- 
quirements of position have prevented her from saving 
anything, and whene<^er misfortune comes it is neces- 
sary to have the means of living and educating the 
children ? How much better is it to anticipate such a 
crisis and to begin as soon as possible to have a certain 
income ? Engage in the j)oidtry business, and when you 
have sold the first $500 worth your fortune is made ; 
for should misfortune arrive all that you have to do is 
to increase the number of your hens. 

However grievous the loss of the husband may be, 



41 

and whenever it may happen, you may be sure lie would 
bless you for securing the welfare of his children and 
driving that gaunt dog, poverty, from the door ; and 
even should not death, but commercial panics, which 
are a most frequent cause of misery, cause a change of 
living, your poultry will supply all the necessaries of 
life, and I should be happy if I knew that this advice 
had been followed. 

Already has the example been set in Europe by sev- 
eral ladies, who certainly would never require assist- 
ance from the raising of poultry, and yet are not 
ashamed to acknowledge that they do receive a large 
profit from this pursuit, and have great pleasure and 
satisfaction in devoting their time and intelligence to it. 

Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, of England, has a 
splendid poultry house and spends numerous days in 
studying, with great attention, the different remedies 
for ameliorating the condition of poultry, and we are 
indebted to her for the system of feeding which she has 
pursued for young turkeys, so as to avoid the great 
mortality that takes place when they get the red. This 
receipt has been regarded by those who are engaged in 
turkey raismg, as a very superior remedy. But a long 
time before some people had presented to her Majesty 
the discovery of this receipt, we had made use of it 
and recommended it already. Further on more ex- 
planation will be found. 

We find also that the example set by Queen Victoria 
has been followed in France by the Countess d'Albertas 
and the lovely Marchioness Bugean de la Tour de Pin, 
Antonie Passy, Cora Millet, Marie la Barrier e de St 
Polen Garret, etc. Madame la Baronne de Leinas, 
widow of an officer without fortune, and six children, 
became immensely wealthy in raising poultry, and al- 

4d 



42 

ready two of lier accomplished daughters are married 
to men of the first rank and position. The fortune of 
Madame de Leinas is daily and steadily increasing from 
this source. 

Amonnt of Profit to be Made by 12 Hens. 

I have not wished by misrepresentation to sell at a 
high price a complicated incubator, or one that is often 
too difficult and dangerous for a great number of persons 
to direct. Many persons, especially ladies, have asked 
me what success and profit the}^ might hope to attain 
with twelve hens and one of my apparatuses, and my 
reply has been, although somewhat difficult to assume 
as circumstances always alter cases, and many things 
are to be taken into consideration, yet the following 
result could easily be attained : If the hens are two 
years old they will give altogether in a year about 1,200 
eggs, allowing 10 per cent, for clear eggs (eggs not 
fertile) the remaining 1,080, if we only allow a success 
of 800 hatched, and deducting 25 per cent, for deaths 
and accidents, there would remain to be sold as Spring 
chickens 600, which, if sold direct to the consumer, 
ought to bring at least $500, expenses deducted. Is 
not this money very easily and pleasantly earned ? 

If you think we have exaggerated in this statement 
we will allow you to reduce our figures, and tell us is 
there any lawful business that will pay so well as the 
poultry ? 

Anyhow, we may not be of sufficient weight to plead 
this cause, but remember, that all those who have writ- 
ten or spoken on this subject, and in favor of poultry, 
have sufficiently demonstrated the profit of it. On re- 
ferring to Mr. Burnham's new poultry book (page 77), 



43 

I find the following account of Mr. De Sora's estab- 
lishment : The quantity of eggs during the last year 
ftveraged 50,000 dozen weekly, which, with the sales 
made of his yearly chickens, yielded him $280,000 gross. 
His expenses, all told, were some $145,000, leaving him a 
profit of $135,000 for the year. 

How to Establish a Poultry Yard with $1,000 
Capital. 

Is it wise to employ a large capital in the business ? 
No, and I should severely blame any one who did it ; 
hence, to those desirous of undertaking the poultry 
business, I would impress upon them the wisdom of 
limiting their investment to $1,000 or $1,200, and this 
amount I would dispose of as foUows : 

To rent of farm or a country house for sis 

months $300 00 

" building a hen house 200 00 

" purchase of 100 hens, etc 150 00 

" 10 roosters 40 00 

" apparatus of 1000 eggs 207 50' 

*' carting and placing manure 20 00 

" grainfor feed 50 00 

" different utensils 10 00 

" balance, cash in hand 222 50 

Total $1,200 00 

One hundred hens would give 40 to 60 eggs per day, 
and as it takes 21 days for incubation, the result is that 
a set of apparatuses of 1000 eggs would leave an appa- 
ratus of 100 eggs free every two days. It may happen 
that the hens do not lay regularly the number of eggs 
given above to keep the incubator fully employed ; in 
that case the raiser could utilize three or four apparatu- 
ses as artificial mothers, which in truth would be ne- 



44 

cessary after tlie first hatching ; thus I would rccom* 
mclud for a set of 1000 eggs, six as incubators and four 
as mothers ; for a set of 500 eggs, three as incubators 
and two as mothers. This facihty of converting the 
apparatus either into an incubator or mother, meets the 
wants, of the breeder according to the season. Fancy 
breeders will save a great deal of money if in the 
hatching season they have an apparatus ready. Those 
who do not wish to let their hens sit 21 days might 
give them eggs that have been several days in the incu- 
bator, which is done after the eggs have been cooled. 
As a mother, the apparatus will render important ser- 
vice. Each time that a hen lets her chicks get cold or 
wet the apparatus would give them more comfort than 
a hen could by any possibility. The "Mother" is 
scientifica% arranged so that the chicks cannot smoth- 
er themselves, and in it they get every part of tl eir 
bodies warmed. 



PRACTICAL RULES 

NECESSAEY FOR 

Making Money Acquired by Twenty Years Experience. 



A few rules applied to the management of laying 
hens will insure a full sujDply of eggs throughout the 
year. But the small number of rules and their sim- 
plicity makes it imperative that they be understood 
and applied. 

Hens require some care and attention. Unless their 
owner is willing to see to his hens he had better not 
have them. 

1. Hens must have comfortable and convenient 
quarters in winter. Most people keep too many hens 
for the accommodations they furnish them. Hens are 
naturally active animals, and when confined in winter 
quarters require plenty of room. Fifty hens and five 
roosters, of all ordinary breeds, should have a house 
24x16 in the clear, and 10 feet high in the clear. This 
will allow about 70 cubic feet of space for each fowl, 
which is little enough. No class of animals is so sus- 
ceptible to the ill effects of crowding as the feathered 
class. Hens will not lay when too much crowded, noi 



46 

will they remain healthy long if too many are kept 
together. The building should be well ventilated by 
chimney without admitting any gusts or draughts oJ 
wind. It should face the south, if possible, and have 
several windows in front. "Where the weather get8 
very cold it will be well to have the whole front glazed 
and have a stove inside. Hens cannot lay unless they 
are kept comfortable, and when the temperature fails 
to 10 deg., or lower, they require a little artificial heat. 
This heat must be carefully managed ; a little fire only 
should be kept, and it should be as steady as possible. 
Uniformity of temperature is what is wanted. The 
houses must be kept clean and neat. The floors should 
be swept every day, and be dusted over with dry earth, 
ashes, chaff, short straw, or litter of any kind that can 
be easily removed. Every hen house should have 
plenty of suitable roosts. There should be a shallow 
box or bin in one corner — a sunny corner is best— con- 
taining dry earth, ashes, chip-dirt, or a mixture of them, 
for the hens to wallow in. They enjoy their bath in 
winter as much as in summer. Where oj^ster shells 
cannot be easily procured, there should be a box con- 
taining gravel within reach of the fowls. A sufficient 
number of nest-boxes with glass nest eggs in them, 
several shallow vessels for water, and a feed trough will 
com]Dlete the necessary outfit for the hen house. A 
very important adjunct to the hen house is an open 
shed where the fowls can stay at pleasure when the 
weather is not too cold. Such a. shed should protect 
the hens from the prevailing winds. 

2. When the house with all the necessary fixtures is 
ready for the stock, the next consideration is to have 
the right breed. Almost any breed will do tolerably 
well with proper usage ; but there is a great difference 



47 

in the laying qualities of fowls. Under the same con- 
ditions, some breeds will lay twice or thrice as many 
eggs in a given time as others. As a rule, the smaller 
breeds are the best layers ; and of the smaller breeds 
the Leghorns are preferable for several reasons : They 
lay a full medium-sized egg, are enormous layers, are 
docile and easily restrained, and have a yellow skin. 
Of the large breeds the Brahmas are the best layers. 
A cross of Leghorn rooster on light Brahma hens will 
be satisfactory. When one wishes to make eggs a 
specialty, only pullets should be kept for the purpose, 
and the earlier they are hatched the better. Don't 
keep hens over more than one winter, unless for some 
good reason. 

3. When the proper accommodations are furnished 
and the proper breeds selected, the next and most im- 
portant step is the feeding. Egg-production is hard 
work for hens, especially for those that are large 
layers. An egg is a highly organized and complex 
substance. It is for the most part composed of albu- 
minous matters and oils and fats, together with fibrin, 
phosphorus, sulphur, iron, etc., in small but appreciable 
quantities. An egg is a potential chicken. The hatch- 
ing process adds nothing to the contents of the egg, 
but only develops the chick from the substance already 
there. Thus, in an egg there is the material for bones, 
flesh, brain, nerves, feathers, and aU the organs of life. 
Hence egg-production, considered physiologically, is an 
exhaustive process, when hens lay regularly and con- 
stantly. Furthermore, the shells of eggs are com- 
posed almost exclusively of carbonate of lime. When 
a hen lays freely she requires a supply of the raw ma- 
terial from which to secrete this carbonate, and it 
should be furnished to her at all times. Is it any 



4:8 

wonder, then, that hens, as they are ordinarily kept, do 
not lay in winter ? Their food must contain the mate 
rials from which they secrete eggp, or they cannot lay= 
Probably nine-tenths of all the poultry in the country 
is fed on raw, whole corn. We know that corn con- 
tains all the elementary substances that eggs do, but 
in very much smaller quantities, bulk for bulk, and when 
a hen has no other food she cannot eat enough to afford 
the materials for an egg a day, or every other day. She 
will get fat and lazy, but camiot lay. Hence the necessity 
for a variety of diet. In summer, when at liberty, the 
hens can find the variety of food that suits them, and 
generally lay well without much care ; but in winter 
they can get only what is given them, and generally 
they do not lay. But if we know the wants of the 
hens, and supply them, we may have as many eggs in 
winter as in summer. Poultry are large consumers of 
grass when they can get it, and to keep in good health 
they must have it, or its equivalent, in winter. Cab- 
bages or boiled vegetables of any kind are good sub-' 
stitutes. Grass, if cut green and carefully dried in the 
shade, when cut fine and steeped a while in hot water, 
is nearly as good as green grass, and is eagerly eaten 
in winter. Besides grass, or its equivalent, we must 
give a supply of lime. Oyster shells, when they can 
be had, are the most convenient ; when they cannot be 
had, ordinary stone lime from the kilns will do as well, 
after it has been slaked, but gravel must be supplied 
with the latter form of lime. Domestic poultry must 
be classed among the omnivorous animals. There is 
nothing that can be eaten that a hen will not eat if she 
can have it — any kinds of odds and ends therefore will 
not come amiss — and much refuse matter, that would 
otlierwise be wasted, may thus be turned to good ac- 



49 

count. Hens are very large consumers in proportion 
to their size, and scanty feeding in winter will not do. 
They should have as much as they want to eat and as 
often as they want it, especially when they are laying 
well. They should be supplied with animal food in 
some form — offal meat, cracklings, chandler's scraps, 
sour thick milk, etc., will give the necessary supply. 

It thus appears that an egg is a complex substance ; 
that it is composed of the highest products of secre- 
tion ; that egg-production is an exhaustive process to 
the hen ; that to produce them in large quantities we 
must supply the proper variety of diet, and plenty of 
it ; and to keep up the health and strength of the hens 
they must have green food and animal food in winter. 

I have made out a bill of fare for my hens, based on 
physiological principles, keeping in view the composi- 
tion ol the egg itself and the health and comfort of the 
hen. I will not occupy space in showing w^hy this is 
in accordance with theoretical principles or analytic 
results. I do not claim that it is the best or the only 
way to feed hens, but it has answered so well with me 
that I do not know how to alter it for the better. 

This is how I feed : Their morning feed consists of 
cracked (very coarsely ground) corn, wheat, oats, or 
corn and wheat bran, scalded, and fed warm in a 
trough. This is given them as soon as they can see to 
eat. As soon as they are fed I break up a pound of 
oyster shells for 35 heads. Then they have fresh 
water from the pump as much as they will drink. 
Fowls often suffer for water in winter. After their 
breakfast I give them about a pound of scraps or 
cracklings from the chandler's shop. This is broken 
in pieces with a hatchet. It furnishes animal food and 
is cheap ; I give two or three quarts of thick, sour 
6 



50 

milk every day, with a handful or two of wheat' bran 
stirred into it. Besides this, I feed some cabbage, 
or turnips, or potatoes, every day. At noon they have 
a little oats, or corn, as the case may be, and fresh 
water again, in clean vessels. At night, before roosting 
time, they get as much whole corn as they will eat, and 
fresh water again. I make it a rule to give as much as 
they will eat. A hungry hen will not be a laying hen. 

The greatest regularity should be observed in feeduig 
and caring for flocks. Have a regular time for all the 
different operations, and the hens will become as me- 
thodical as their keepers. Eggs should be gathered 
punctually twice a day, or oftener in very cold weather. 
The morning feed should not be made too wet, and 
should not be given too hot. In very cold weather it is 
advisable to put a little cayenne pepper and a sprinkle 
of salt in their morning food. Besides the above 
enumerated articles, the hens should have all the scraps 
from the table. They are very fond of them, and will 
turn them to better account than cats or dogs will. 

Let us recapitulate. Give your hens a reasonable 
share of your attention ; furnish suitable accommoda- 
tions ; get and keep the right breed ; save only pullets, 
the earliest hatch, foi laying. Furnish as great a vari- 
ety of diet as possible, and feed as much as they wiU 
eat. Give green food and animal food of some sort in 
winter. Keep the hens quiet and comfortable ; don't 
allow them to be worried or frightened. Water is as 
important as food, and should be kept clean and fresh. 
These rules, intelligently applied, will secure an abund- 
ant supply of eggs at aU times of the year. 



51 

Care of Sitting Hens. 

Oiiglit hens to sit by themselves and apart from other 
sitters? This question is one to be answered rather 
from the standpoint of the convenience of the breeder 
than from any other. No doubt hens, if left to suit 
themselves, will choose a nest in some solitary corner ; 
but the habit is not one that is acquired by reason of 
any advantage to the constitution of the chicken, but 
from a dread of enemies. In the case of quiet stock, 
such as the Brahma, there is no need of separating the 
sitters, if at all inconvenient for the attendant. 

On the other hand, where many sitters are together, 
some extra care is necessary in arranging the nests so 
that every hen will know her own. The nests must be 
scattered widely about the apartment, for it will never 
be found that the hen which should occupy a nest in 
the upper right-hand corner of a room has deserted it 
for one in the lower left-hand corner. Also, if the 
nests look very unlike, the birds will observe the dis- 
tinction. The difference between a box open at top 
and a barrel turned on the side, is palpable enough to 
the dullest sitter. In our modern fowl houses, where a 
love of order prevails, the nest-boxes frequently look as 
much alike as two peas, and in that case wisps of 
straw or boughs of evergreens may be fastened in the 
immediate vicinity of a nest to enable the occupant to 
know her own. This, of course, must be done before 
the foAvl has laid her laying out, so that the features of 
the vicinity may become firmly fixed in her "mind," 
for birds, as well as men, have minds. 

The system of allowing each sitter a separate apart- 
ment has decided advantages in many cases. It is al- 
ways the best plan to follow, when the weather is warm 



52 

enough, to give each sitter a yard of her own, ten or 
twelve feet square to exercise in. By watching sitting 
hens at feed, when they have range and opportunity to 
follow their natural bent, it will be seen that they run 
around at a great rate, acting almost like mad, and 
seem determined to get as much exercise as possible in 
the short time allowed them. In this way their bowels 
are kept in good order. But when sitters, in order to 
keep laying hens from their nests, are confined in very 
small separate pens, they move around slowly, and in- 
stead of running and flapping their wings, they mope, 
and after merely satisfying their hunger, take to the 
nest again. Therefore, allow each sitter as large a 
yard as can be afforded. If you attempt the plan of 
separate confinement, then you will escape the evil of 
two hens quarreling for the same nest ; layers cannot 
drop their eggs in a sitter's nest, and, at the same time, 
the incubating hens are allowed plenty of exercise. 

Helping Chickens out of the Shell. 

It has been generally supposed that chicks that are 
shell-bound, or too weakly to get out without assistance, 
could not be aaved, but an accidental discovery has pul 
another face on the matter. Keep the egg in icarm 
icatev (about 95 deg.) while the assistance is being 
rendered, and success may be hoped for. The shell 
must be cracked very gently, and the inner membrane 
very tenderly peeled ofi" till the chick be at liberty, 
keeping all but the beak under water until nearl}^ clear. 
The operation must be performed in a warm place, and 
tenderly, as if touching raw flesh ; and it Avill be found 
that the water generally facilitates matters, liberating 
the membrane if glued to the chick, and enabling it to 



53 

be separated without loss of blood. Tlie latter occnr- 
rence, nine times out of ten, is fatal ; but if the opera- 
tion be completed without blood flowing, success may 
be anticipated and the nearly dead chick may be put 
by the fire in flannel, or under the hen, if a quiet, good 
mother — under her at night, in any case — and next day 
may probably be as well as the others. 

Cooked Food for Poultry. 

An important question is the comparative value of 
raw and cooked food. That the latter is not natural is 
not a convincing reason, because to domestic animals 
the word has no application. They are in a pecuhar 
condition in many respects, resulting from the long- 
continued influence of domestication. Besides, there 
is no objection to departing from the ordinary food of 
any animal, if the substitute can be shown to be as 
easy, or easier, of digestion. In reference to this point 
it must be decided by experiment. 

Now, the experiment has been laade over and over 
again. Swine have been fed with raw and with cooked 
corn in equal quantities, and the result, tested by 
weighing, is from 20 to 40 per cent, in favor of the 
cooked article. Some keepers are accustomed, with 
their fowls, to boil a part of the corn in the kernel, and 
they do well. However, it must be said that they soon 
tire of it, and cannot be induced to touch it if raw corn 
can be had. The food is also sometimes steamed. 

However, sometimes raw food is better. The corn 
may be boiled upon the ear, thus saving the labor of 
shelHng it. It is more economical to boil corn in the 
kernel than when ground, as there is saved not only 
cost of grinding, but some labor in the cooking process ; 
for mush must be continually stirred, while corn in the 

5e 



54 

kernel will not "burn down" if suffered to rest on a 
perforated plate for a few inches from the bottom of 
the kettle. 

It is claimed by some chemists that the food value oi 
certain articles is increased by cooking, increasing the 
actual amount of nutritious substances in them. 

Another method of softening grains, sometimes em- 
ployed, is fermentation, which turns the starch of the 
grain into sugar, changing it into a substance more 
easily digested. Brewers' grains are much given, but 
should be used only in alternation with whole grain, 
because they are too moist and purge the fowls. They 
are to be recommended in the rather rare cases — when 
costiveness is complained of. 

Keep the Chickens G-rowing. 
It is a mistaken policy to stint young fowls of rich 
food, and plenty of it, is what they need ; and no dan- 
ger of over-feeding, if they are growing and have their 
liberty. Old fowls that have their growth and are shut 
up, can easily be fed too much, but do not fail to feed 
the young ones all they will eat. A good feed of whole 
grain of some kind, just as late in the evening as they 
can see to eat it, is one of the means of making fine 
stock. Also give them a plentiful breakfast of soft food 
early in the morning. Let no food lie on the ground, 
or anything that will sour ; it will be ver}^ likely to 
make the little chicks sick. A few cents worth of food, 
given at the proper season to a fine bird, may make 
several dollars difference in the price when you come 
to sell. It takes a certain quantity of food to keep up 
the waste of sustaining animal life ; so every ounce of 
food properly digested, in addition to this actual re- 
quirement, goes to increase the size of the fowl. He- 



55 

member this, and never neglect the growing stock. 
Time lost here can never be regained. Neglect the 
little chicks, and you will surely see the effects of the 
neglect in the mature fowl. 

Artificial nest eggs may be prepared very simply by 
breaking a small hole in the round end of an ordinary 
egg, removing the contents and filling the shell with 
plaster paris, sufficiently moistened with water as to be 
easily poured into the shell ; after it hardens, paste a 
piece of white paper over the licle, or the hens will 
peck out the plaster paris and destroy the egg. It is 
easily made and will last a long time. It is advisable 
to always have such nest eggs, and fowls will not ac- 
quire the habit of eating their eggs ; hens are also less 
liable to wander off and hide their nests when plenty 
of nest eggs are placed in the nests. 

Hens that Eat Eggs. 
The best way to break hens of egg-eating is to break 
their necks, and re-stock with birds that have not 
acquired the habit. Fowls that are expert in egg- 
eating first attack the shell with their bill. If it is a 
thin shell a few strokes will break it, and the rest is an 
easy job. If, however, the shell is a thick one, they 
generally fail to break it with their beak; they then 
begin to scratch in the nest, and, with their feet, throw 
the egg against the hard side of the box until it is 
broken. First of all, make hens lay hard-shelled eggs, 
so hard that they cannot be readily broken by a hen's 
bill. This can be done by feeding freely with slaked 
lime, ground or broken bones, oyster shells, etc. To 
prevent breaking against the sides of the box, the nests 
should be high and lined upon the sides with cushions 
filled with hay or other soft material. Their only 



56 

cliance tlien is that tliey may throw two eggs forcibly 
against each other. To prevent this take the nest egg 
away and gather the eggs several times a day. It is a 
good plan to leave a few China eggs near the nest for 
them to work at, which will make their bills so sore 
that they will strike the real egg with less force. 

Evening Exercise for Yarded Fowls. 
During the summer, when fowls must be shut up on 
account of their roaming propensities, much of the ill 
effects of their imprisonment may be avoided if they 
are let out for a short period at evening. While out 
they may be watched, although there is little danger of 
their going into the garden, and they will find enough 
in the grass-plots to keep them busy. Indeed, it is sur- 
prising how beneficial this time of exercise is. The 
fowls, knowing that they are to have a chance to get 
out, are much more quiet during the day, and if regu- 
larity in letting them out and shutting them up be ob- 
served, they will return to their roosts without trouble. 
It is possible, also, that an hour at evening is nearly as 
good as a whole day, as far as the health of the flock 
is concerned ; for, if there is any special article of diet 
needed, they will hunt all the more diligently. It is for 
this reason that they will prefer the grass to the plowed 
land. By such an arrangement as this, large flocks 
can be kept in good condition, although shut up through 
the year. 

Dust Bath. 
By instinct all birds are taught the need of a dust or 
water bath for their well-being. They choose a shel- 
tered and sunny spot of fine, dry soil, in which they 
open their feathers and fill them with dust, which, ap- 



57 

plied often enougli and in sufficient quantities, is death 
to ail parasites wliicli infest tlie plumage or skin. As 
the domestic fowl is not a native of a cold climate, it 
becomes necessary for us to supply the deficiency which 
exists during our winter season. This is readily ac- 
complished by the dust box, which every one who has 
fowls should provide. Fine road dust, coal ashes, sand, 
pulverized loam or clay even, are all very good, and 
with a sprinkling of flour of sulphur, constitutes as 
good a bath as can be desired. This should be placed 
in a sunny exposure of the room and kept dry and 
clean so that the fowls may enjoy its benefits when they 
choose. 

"When poultry is kept in a yard, it is best to dig up 
a small corner occasionally, to let them hunt for w^orms 
and beetles, and then sow it in oats, and corn and 
lettuce. They also want a dusting place. A box of 
ashes with sulphur intermixed is what they need for 
this. 

Clipping' "Wings. 

Clipping one wing of fowls to prevent their flying is 
a necessary operation sometimes, but never necessarily 
disfiguring. It generally is, however, since the farmer's 
shears almost always makes a clean sweep of all the 
quills, and an ugly wing is the result. Besides the ug- 
liness, there are also other disadvantages in such a 
sweeping operation. A sitting hen uses the outer end 
of her wing to retain the eggs under her in place, and 
those near the body protect the skin being torn by her 
mate's claws. The proper w^ay is only to trim the 
feathers partly off with a pair of scissors, except about 
one inch at the end. It shows but little when the wing 
is closed, and does not disfigure the fowl, but lets tiie 
wind through, so as to prevent flying. 



53 



Breeding and Mating. 
Too many fanciers and farmers, otherwise earnest in 
their business, are yery careless concerning their fowls. 
Interbreeding certainly degenerates — particularly when 
so promiscuously permitted in a flock as is common. 
There are the same good reasons for making choice of 
the best bred fowls as for making the same choice in 
other stock. For, while a prime breed is as easily 
reared, fed and housed as a poorer one, there is a de- 
cided difference in the returns in favor of the former. 
If properly cared for, we do not hesitate to say that 
fowls of superior order do yield the farmer even, the 
largest interest for the outlay he makes, of any other 
stock he lieeps. 

Food for Sitting Hens. 
The requirements of a sitter differ from those of 
other hens. B}^ their keeping quiet and without exer. 
cise, not much is required to sustain vitality, and that 
should be of such a nature as to digest slowly. For 
this reason whole grain is preferred, and corn is 
thouglit to be much the best. Soft food of any kind 
is soon digested, and the hen either leaves her nest very 
frequently or becomes \^ery poor. The advantage of 
corn over other grain is that it is more oleaginous and 
so likely to stimulate the production of eggs, and being 
hard and compact it digests more slowly than other 
grain. A run upon the grass is also beneficial to sit- 
ting hens. Meat should be avoided. 

Turnips for Hens. 
In order that to keep fowls in the best condition, 
green food is always important. AVith free range in 



59 

warm weather, grass, etc., supplies tliis need, but ia 
winter it must be furnished daily, and nothing is better 
than raw turnips, which can be cut open and fastened 
in a rack, or chopped fine and fed in a trough. They 
will leave cabbage and "go for" turnips every time. 
Asiatics seem to consume more green food than the 
smaller breeds. It is even surprising how much they 
will eat of it, if given a full supply. A mixture of 
turnips, apples, and onions, chopped fine, is a savory 
mess. 

The Number of Hens to a Rooster. 

Houdans, ten hens to one rooster ; Creve-Coeurs, eight 
hens to one rooster; Buff Cochins, ten hens to one 
rooster ; Gray Dorkings, ten hens to one rooster ; White 
Leghoi-ns, fourteen hens to one rooster ; Spanish, 
twelve hens to one rooster ; Brahmas, ten hens to one 
rooster ; Hamburgs, fourteen hens to one rooster ; Po- 
lands, twelve hens to one rooster ; Game, ten hens to 
one rooster. With this proportion of hens to a rooster 
the vitality of the eggs will prove good. 

Poultry Manure. 

Poultry manure, or hen guano, is worth, if kept under 
cover, almost as much in price as Pacific guano, which 
is selling at $60 per ton. Hen manure, on the garden 
or farm is w^orth $50 per ton. To prepare it for use, 
mix it with soil, half and half; keep it till wanted. 
For corn, onions, and all vegetables, it is one of the 
best manures. No farmer, who wants to make his farm 
pay, should sell it for twenty cents a bushel. It is 
worth a dollar for his own use. 



60 



Keeping Eggs for Winter Use. 

To four gallons of boiling water add half a peck of 
new lime, stirring it some little time. When cold re- 
move any hard lumps with a coarse sieve ; add ten 
ounces of salt and three ounces of cream of tartar, and 
mix the whole thoroughly. The mixture is then to 
stand for a fortnight before using. The eggs are to be 
packed as closely as possible, and to be kept closely 
covered up. Thus treated, if put in when new laid, at 
nine months they will eat nearly as good as though laid 
only six days, though of course not like neiv-laid. 

A better but a little more expensive way of preserv- 
ing eggs is recommended by the French : In eight 
ounces of warm olive oil dissolve four ounces of bees- 
wax ; with this mixture annoint the egg all round, using 
the tips of the fingers or a rag. The oil will be ab- 
sorbed by the shell and the pores filled up by the wax, 
and if kept in a cool place, the eggs after two years will 
be as good as if fresh. 

G-ravel for Fowls. 
Granivorous fowls need the assistance of hard sub- 
stances, such as stones, gravel, etc., to digest the food 
upon which they live. This they are able to obtain for 
themselves, in most localities, at all seasons except in 
T»dnter, or when confined in limited quarters. At such 
times they must be supplied with a Hberal quantity of 
clean, sharp gravel, or coarse sand. Young fowls of 
all kinds should have fine gravel or coarse sand con- 
stantly within their reach, of a size adapted to the 
capacity of their throats. 



61 



How to Fatten and Dress Poultry for the Market. 

Although the manner of fattening poultry may seem 
plain, yet there is, nevertheless, a right and a wrong 
way, a long and a short mode of accomphshing the 
object desired. 

Never let poultry forage and shift for themselves for 
at least ten days before killing, for they are apt to range 
in the barn-yards and pick up filthy food, which perme- 
ates all through the bird, its flesh frequently becoming 
so tainted, that it is unfit to be eaten. 

The best method for steady and regular profit, or for 
domestic use, is to keep them constantly in high feed 
from the beginning, with plenty of clean, cool water ; 
then they are always ready for the table, with but very 
little extra attention, their flesh will be jucier and richer 
in flavor than those fattened from a low and emaciated 
state, always commanding quick sale, at the highest 
price in the market, a healthful, nourishing and restor- 
ative food. 

Some "cram" their poultry before killing, to make 
it appear heavy ; this is a most injudicious plan, as it 
shows at a glance the dishonest intention of the shipper 
to benefit himself and swindle others, in his poor effort 
to obtain the price of poultry, for corn ; the undigested 
food soon enters into fermentation, and putrefaction 
takes place, injuring their sale a great deal more than 
is gained in weight. Fowls should always be allowed 
to remain in their coops at least twenty- four hours pre- 
vious to being kiUed, without food, then they will keep 
longer, and present a better appearance. 

The best food for fattening fowls, old or young, is 
barley meal, or mixed with equal quantities of corn 
meal, cooked, and fed warm (a small quantity of brick 
6 



62 

dust in their drinking water is recommended), which 
will make flesh faster, and more solid, giving it a fine 
golden color after being dressed. Good food is positive 
economy. 

The best mode for killing poultry, as it causes instant 
death without pain or disfigurement, is to suspend the 
birds by tying their legs firmly to a pole or heavy mre 
across the kilHng room, a convenient distance from the 
floor, and opening the fowl's beak, and with a sharp- 
pointed and narrow-bladed knife, make an incision at 
the back of the roof, which will divide the vertebrae 
and cause immediate death. 

Dry-pluck the feathers and pin-feathers all off neat 
and clean, while ivarm, without breaking the skin ; thfm 
plunge it into a kettle of very hot water, holding it 
there only long enough for the bird to "plump," then 
hang it up — turkeys and chickens by the legs, and 
ducks and geese by the heads. Do not remove the en- 
trails, heads or feet. This mode gives the poultry a 
nice buttery, golden color, that attracts the eye of the 
epicure. 

Pack only when thoroughly dry and cold (not irozevi) 
in medium sized, clean boxes or barrels, in thoroughly 
cleaned and dusted rye straw, and to be extra nice, 
wrap each bird in clean, white (not printed) paper, 
fold the head under its body, legs stretched out, lay in 
the left hand corner, with its head toward the end of 
the box, back up, fill the first row, then commence the 
second in the same way, only let the bird's head pass 
up between the rumps of the two adjoining ones ; this 
makes it solid ; the last row reverse the order, placing 
the head towards the end of the box, letting the feet 
pass under each other ; should there be space between 
these rows wide enough to lay in a few side-wise, do so ; 



63 

if not, fill in tight with straw, so the poultry cannot 
move. This gives uniformity of appearance and a firm- 
ness that will prevent moving or chafing during trans- 
portation ; over this layer place straw enough to pre- 
vent one layer from coming in contact with the other, 
and add other layers until the box is filled full. Great 
care must be taken in packing not to break the skin, 
for during transportation such places turn black and 
injure its sale. 



DISEASES AND THEIR CURE. 

Every one a Doctor for his own Fowls. 



Usually when fowls take cold, inflammation of the 
head and ejes is one of the first symptoms to attract 
attention. If allowed to suffer from neglect and con- 
tinued exposure, the trouble speedily runs into what is 
termed roup, or swelled head, and is often accom- 
panied with canker or ulcerated sore throat. In the 
last mentioned condition rattling in the throat often 
occurs. 

Fowls are, however, sometimes troubled with diffi- 
culty in breathing and a rattling in the throat, as the 
result of atmospheric changes, and in such cases the 
affection is similar to bronchitis. While not considered 
very dangerous, there seems as yet to be no certain 
cure for it, and since it is not contagious we seldom 
give it much attention. The rattling, or gaping or 
wheezing, which comes from cankered throat and 
mouth, is a very different thing, and should be looked 
after immediately. 

A breeder, whose fowls are evidently suffering from 
the results of colds, writes thus: "My chickens are 



65 

afflicted with a blindness and inflammation of the eyes. 
The eyes close up and there is a rattling in the throafc 
part of the time when they breathe. What is the dis- 
ease, and what is the remedy ?" 

The bhndness and inflammation of the eyes can 
generally be easily cured if attended to promptly. The 
Fancier's Gazette, of England, recommends to bathe 
the head and eyes with a solution of sulphate of zink, 
five grains to the ounce of water. Chlorinated soda, 
which you can get at any good chemist's, is also sug- 
gested. Carbohc acid, one part acid to forty parts 
water, is another remedy often mentioned, and acetic 
acid is likewise highly spoken of. 

A general observation and experience in the treat- 
ment of such cases, is that diluted vinej2car and common 
salt water combined, make the best, and most readily 
procured remedy we have met with. Chlorinated soda 
and acetic acid are only learned names for substances, 
the properties of which we have in as available a form 
in the simple and well known articles of common salt 
and vinegar. 

In a case of inflammation, as above mentioned, the 
head and eyes should be bathed several times each day 
with the solution of salt and vinegar. Open the mouth 
and you will most likely find a yellowish, cheesy sub- 
stance in the sKt in the roof of the mouth. This should 
be carefully removed with a quill or pointed stick. A 
flat piece of good hickory, four inches long and one- 
fourth of an inch wide, and as thick as a case knife, 
roundly pointed at one end, makes a good instrument 
for such work. If the cheesy matter has not yet 
formed in the head, you will at least find in the roof of 
the mouth a shmy discharge, similar to that which 
comes from the nostrils of the bii'd. This should be 

6f 



66 

removed as well as possible with a sponge or soft rag. 
Then tie to the end of a small stick a piece of sponge 
saturated with the salt water and vinegar, and with this 
sponge out the mouth well, and force some of the wash 
through the slit in the roof of the mouth. It is con- 
venient to have for this purpose a small syringe with a 
bent tube. The face and nostrils should also be well 
bathed with the salt and vinegar, and no harm need be 
feared from getting the wash into the eyes. This will 
be a benefit rather than an injury. 

The diet of the fowl should be soft food. Soaked 
bread is good, seasoned with pepper. In the drinking 
water should be dissolved a little sulphate of iron. 
Stimulating foods and tonic drinks are of great benefit 
in such cases. If no more serious symptoms appear, 
your bird may be expected to recover in a short time. 

Cankered throat may accompany a severe cold as 
well as roup in its worst stages. If on opening the 
mouth of a bird you find it badly coated or ulcerated, 
the tongue covered and the ulcers extending down the 
throat, you had better give the case up as hopeless. If 
the ulcers appear only in small spots and streaks, and 
the tongue is clean, or nearly so, it is worth while to 
attempt a cure, provided the bird is worth the extra 
daily attention it will require. The course to be pur- 
sued is to take a stick, such as that above described, 
wet it well with the salt water and vinegar — the solution 
for this purpose may be as strong as it can be made — 
and then proceed to remove with the point all the ulcers 
from the roof and sides of the mouth and aboUt the 
base of the tongue ; iji fact all you find. Do not be 
uneasy about tlie bh^edmg, as no harm will come of it> 
but rather good. Wet the stick frequently with the 
salt water and vinegar in order that as fast as the ulcers 



67 

are removed the solution may immediately come to the 
exposed parts, thus causing them to heal and prevent- 
ing the spread of the disease. Having carefully done 
all you can at one time in this way, give the inside of 
the mouth a good sponging with the wash, and if the 
fowl seems to require food, but is unable from the 
soreness of its mouth to take it, some should be forced 
down its throat. The like course should be gone 
through with the next day and the following, until the 
ulcers are entirely killed out and removed. In the 
meantime the fowl should be given easily digested and 
stimulating food and tonic drink as above recom- 
mended. 

In some cases small pustules appear on the sides of 
the head and the w^attles and the ear lobes. The salt 
and vinegar will be found to be a good remedy for these 
also. Remove the scales and bathe the parts freely 
with the solution, repeating the operation once or twice 
each day. What is commonly termed swelled head is 
but an advanced stage of roup. The secretions seem 
to concentrate, settle or consolidate, as it were, at some 
one point, frequently on the face beneath the eye, yet 
seldom so deeply seated but that the accumulations 
may be reached and easily removed with the knife. 
Sometimes a mass of yellow, cheesy matter as large as 
a thimble will have formed at one place. It should be 
taken out and the wound bathed with salt and vinegar. 
Nature will soon heal over the frightful looking cut if 
the work of cleansing has been well done. 

About 30 per cent, of hens are lost annually by dis^ 
eases of every kinds so that I think a few simple reme- 
dies for some of the most common, will be appreciated 
by my readers, and I therefore give them without fur- 
ther explanation, under their most common names as 



68 

quoted by fancy breeders. These receipts bave been 
taken from the most trustworthy books and journals 
and are known to the breeders as reliable. 

Abortion. 
Generally produced by fright. The remedy is to con- 
fine the bird in a rather dark pen, with a nest in one 
corner. Soft food only should be used, given sparingly. 
The drinking water should be impregnated with a small 
amount of carbonate of soda. This disease must not 
be confounded with the ordinary laying of soft eggs. 

Apoplexy or Paralysis. 

More probably arising from high feeding than any 
other cause. An unsteady walk with drooping wings 
as if the bird were giddy, is a warning symptom. Fasv- 
ing and a dose of fifteen grains jalap and one grain - jf 
calomel will be found very useful, with continued low 
diet for two or three days. In cases of sudden' attacks, 
with loss of power and conciousness, it will be neces- 
sary to lance immediately the large vein under the 
wing, and to bleed freely until the bird recovers. StoD 
the flow of blood by means of burnt alum or othei* 
styptic, and take care that the fowl is not allowed to 
peck open the wound and cause death from hemorrhage. 
Cold water applied to the head is often of beneficial 
effect. Fortunately these diseases are both of infre- 
quent occurrence. 

Black Rot, 
Also rarely to be met with and only to be cured in 
the earlier stages. Symptoms, blackening of the comb 
and swelling of the legs and feet, accompanied with 



69 

gradual emaciation. Treatment is a dose of calomel 
or castor oil, with warm and nourishing diet, together 
with the use of "Parrish's Chemical Food," or Tonio 

No. 4. 

Bronchitis. 

Known by the frequent coughing, unaccompanied by 
discharge, as in the case of cold in the head. A small 
quantity of nitric and sulphuric acids in the drinking 
water, with sugar enough to make the whole slightly 
sweet and acid to the taste, is all that is required. 
The food may be seasoned with a little cayenne or gin- 
ger, and the fowl should be kept in a dry place, moder- 
ately warm. Sometimes the disease is accompanied by 
a peculiar ratthng in the throat. The homeopathic 
cure is two pellets of aconite in the morning before 
feeding, and the same in the evening, for two or three 
days. This is said to be a specific. 

Bumble Foot. 

A corn or abscess at the bottom of the foot, most fre- 
quently found in the larger breeds, and is supposed to 
be caused by descent from the perches to a hard board 
floor. Daily applications of lunar caustic, or pigment 
of iodine painted over the spot with a brush, will often 
effect a cure. The tumor should afterwards be cut and 
the matter pressed out, the part thoroughly cleansed 
with warm water, and in a day or two the caustic ap- 
phed as before. One ounce of muriate of amonia dis- 
solved in a pint of vinegar is very useful in reducing 
the swelling. The bird should be compelled to sleep 
on straw during treatment. Another remedy is to 
wash the foot with tepid water and soap, afterwards 



70 

cutting open the swollen foot and removing the putrid 
and diseased surface flesh, and applying sulphate of 
copper (blue vitriol) and then tying up the foot so as 
to retain the medicine as applied. In severe cases two 
or three applications may be necessary. 

Canker or Ulceration. 

This disease bears a striking analogy to the roup, 
but is distinguishable from the latter by a lack of dis- 
ch T,rge from the nostril. It frequently extends to the 
throat, covering the back of the tongue with ulcerous 
formation. In such cases remove the ulcers with a 
sharp, flat stick of hard wood and apply with a camel's 
hair brush a wash of tincture of myrrh, borax and 
chlorate of potash, dissolved in water. Use powdered 
borax afterwards upon the sore. Give soft food and 
occasionally bread soaked in ale. When the disease 
affects the eye, use McDougall's Fluid Extract for a 
wash, in the proportion of one teaspoonful to eight of 
water. As in the case of roup, the diseased fowl 
should be removed to warm, dry quarters, and the 
feathers on the neck and head kept clean by washing 
in warm water. Another remedy is to lissolve some 
alum in water and wash out the mouth, throat, and 
eyes with it, after which sprinkle burnt alum on the 
sores ; to be repeated daily until cured. 

Cancer. 

The first symptoms are loss of the use of the legs, 
the bird squatting about on its hocks, and using its 
wings to assist locomotion. There is no apparent loss 
of appetite or energy, but absolute loss of power over 
the legs. The disease is incurable, as removal of the 



71 

cancer by a surgical operation, only results fatally in a 
week or so thereafter. When it is apparent that the 
disease has become seated, the most humane treatment 
for the breeder is to kill it. 



Cholera. 

If there is a disease among fowl resulting more par- 
ticularly from carelessness or ignorance than any other, 
ib is the fatal disease known as the Cholera. All writ- 
ers on the subject agree that it arises from exposure to 
the sun, without sufficient shade, warm and stale drink- 
ing water, foul and offensive grass runs occasioned by 
the droppings, and most important of all, the absence 
of a regular supply of fresh green food, which is the 
great preTentive of diarrhoea in fowls. This disease 
is rarely if ever known where a cool shade, clean runs, 
fresh cool water and green food are provided daily. 

Symptoms -Sudden and violent thirst, diarrhoea, 
greenish droppings, afterwards thin and whitish, with 
extreme weakness and staggering or "falhng about," 
sometimes accompanied with cramps, and often with 
an *' anxious" look about the face. Death results in 
from 12 to 36 hours. 

Treatment — Administer every three hours the follow- 
ing : Ehubarb, 5 grains ; cayenne pepper, 2 grains ; 
laudanum, 10 drops. Give midway between each dose 
a teaspoonful of brandy diluted with water containing 
5 drops of McDougail's Fluid Extract, or either of the 
the following : 

]Sfo. 1. — Equal parts of the tincture of opium, red 
pepper, rhubarb, peppermint and camphor, well shaken, 
with doses increased from ten to twenty drops several 
times a day when not immediately relieved. 



72 

No. 2. — Two oz. each of alum, resin, copperas, lac 
sulphur and cayenne pepper ; pulverize, then mix 
three table-spoonsful of the powder with one quart of 
com meal, and dampen for use. This is sufficient for 
twelve fowls, and may be used either as a preventive 
©r cure. For the former, once or twice a week is suffi- 
itient. E^^e or wheat, soaked well in highwines or 
»trong whisky, fed occasionally, is also said to be a 
good preventive. 

No. 3 — Blue mass and cayenne pepper, each 1 oz. ; 
camphor gum J oz., and a teaspoonful of laudanum, 
well mixed and made into pills of oidinary size. Give 
one pill every hour until the purging ceases/ Also a 
teasponful of brandy morning and evening. 

No. 4.— Cayenne pepper and prepared chalk, each 2 
parts; pulverized gentian and pulverized charcoal, each 
1 part (measurement, not weight) ; mix well together 
and form a paste, with either lard or sheep's suet. 
Give a pill the size of a common marble once a day, 
and keep in a warm and dry place forty-eight hours. 

No. 5. — Carbolic acid, 1 drachm ; glycerine, 1 oz. ; 
mix thoroughly, adding one quart of water. Of this 
solution use two tablespoonsful to a gallon of water, 
allowing the fowl access to no other water. 

The foimtains and feed boxes should be disinfected 
with carbolate of lime or carbolic acid. The water 
must be kept cool, plenty of shade provided, and the 
free use of green food indulged in, for those not at- 
tacked. No food or water with the exception of soft 
or moistened wheat bread in warm milk is needed for 
the diseased birds. 

.The use of kerosene in this disease has lately- 
attracted some attention, and elsewhere we present a 



73 

newspaper article on the curative qualities of this oil. 
It is said to be very efficacious. 

Cattarrh. 

A common cold, if neglected, is likely to terminate 
in roup. The bird should be immediately removed to 
a warm place. Three drops of mother tincture of aco- 
nite added to haK a pint of the drinking water will be 
found beneficial. The food should be soft, mixed warm, 
and seasoned with Tonic No. 1. 

One pill of the following, given night and morning, 
is also highly recommended : \ oz. each of camphor, 
valerian, cayenne pepper, lobelia seed powder, and gum 
myrrh, made into forty-eight pills. If not better in a 
few days, roup may be suspected, and the treatment 
should be the same as for that disease. 

Consumption. 

Caused by cold or dampness, want of light and con- 
stitutional debility. Most frequently observed in birds 
related. The symptoms are chronic cough, with wasting 
away and loss of strength. Incurable when once fairly 
seated. Where its presence is suspected, cod liver oil 
added to the meal food is a corrective, together with 
"Parrish's Chemical Food," half a teaspoonful, twice 
a day. 

Cramp. 

Early chickens are most subject to this disease, 
caused by exposure to damp during cold weather. It 
may be known bv a tendency to walk on the toes, and 
afterwards on the knuckles or outside of the foot. Also 
by squatting on the hock. Kemoval to a place pro- 
vided with a dry boarded floor, well sanded and kept 
7 



74 

clean, is usually sufficient. In severe cases, wlieife the 
toes are much contracted, the legs and feet should be 
bathed in warm water several times daily, opening and 
extending the toes, and afterwards drying them with a 
cloth. A little tonic should be added to the food. 
Opium in quarter grain doses two or three times daily 
will prove beneficial in the treatment of this disease. 

Crop Bound. 
Occasioned by careless feeding with hard grain or 
pieces of tough meat, bone, or other substance too 
Karge for the bird to swallow, causing the crop to be so 
distended and swelled as to close the outlet to the 
stomach. Warm water should be poured down the 
throat, and the crop gently kneaded or worked for an 
hour, if necessary, until it becomes soft, holding the 
bill open and the head down. Then give a tablespoon- 
ful of castor oil and feed sparingly for several days to 
prevent a permanent distension. If this is not effective, 
tin incision about an inch long should be made at the 
top of the crop, first removing some of the feathers, 
and care being taken not to open any of the large blood 
vessels. The contents of the crop should then be re- 
moved and the outlet examined to see that it is not 
stopped up. The incision may be closed by making 
three or four stitches with silk or horse-hair in the inner 
skin, and the same in the outer. Be careful not to sew 
the two skins together, as it is almost certainly fatal 
Feed on soft or sopped bread, and tillow no water for 
24 hours after the operation. 

Crop Soft or Swelled. 
Usually caused by excessive drinking, and the con- 



75 

tents of the crop are of a soft, fluid character. Confine 
the bird separately, and feed sparingly with soft food, 
thoroughly cooked. The water should be slightly 
acidulated with nitric acid, of which the bird should be 
allowed to drink very moderately after each meal only. 
The food should be seasoned with Tonic No. 4, and half 
a teaspoonful of sal volatile given every morning, in 
double the quantity of water. Chopped onions or gar- 
lic is the best green food during treatment, having 
themselves a strong remedial effect. It is to be very 
much doubted whether the distended crop resulting 
from negligence in feeding after treatment for "crop 
bound" can ever be successfully removed. The two 
disfigurements being similar in appearance, are apt to 
be confounded. The one resulting from excessive 
drinking is properly a disease not so fatal as the hard 
crop, but nevertheless sufiiciently dangerous to excite 
apprehension, while the other, beyond being unsightly 
causes little injury to the bird. 

Dysentery. 

This disease is really chronic diarrhoea, the droppings 
being mingled with blood. Rarely cured, and evidently 
contagious. The diseased birds should be removed to 
a cool place and the cholera remedy applied. Five 
drops of laudanum and five drops of "McDougall's 
Fluid Extract," every three hours, has also proved to 
be efficacious. A teaspoonful of strong cinnamon tea 
every hour should be given instead of water. The 
carcass, in case of death, should be buried deeply, away 
from the yards, and the latter should be thoroughly 
disinfected. 



76 



Debility. 
Sudden terror or prostration from a long journey and 
excitement attendant on exhibition, often occasions 
fowls to droop without any apparent positive disease. 
In such cases nothing is better for restoring strength 
than a raw fresh laid egg daily. Strong tonics are not 
advisable but the usual modicum of the "Douglas 
Mixture" given every third day in the drink will prove 
an invaluable aid. 

DiarrhcBa 

Is usually caused by too sudden changes of food, and 
sometimes the weather. In its earliest stages it may 
easily be checked by feeding soft food cooked with 
milk and mixed with chalk or seasoned with pulverized 
cinnamon, or by giving camphorated spirits, or w^ater, 
every four to six hours, in doses of 10 to 20 drops 
according to severity, and feed nothing green except it 
be fresh grass, in limited quantities. Tegetmeier'a 
recipe, given years ago, has had some favor, viz : 5 
grains chalk, 5 grains rhubarb, and three grains of 
cayenne pepper made into pills. But if the case is one 
of severity one teaspoonful of laudanum every six hours 
should be given until relieved. With proper and judi- 
cious feeding, plenty of fresh water, cleanliness and a 
plentiful supply of lime, oyster shells, or broken or 
ground bones, and a free use of the "Douglas Mix- 
ture," there need be but little fear of any serious 
results. 

Egg Bound. 
Inability to lay on account of unusual size of egg, 
may be known by the hen coming off the nest and 



77 

moping around in evident distress, with wings on the 
ground ; sometimes she remains on the nest. A largo 
dose of castor oil will generally give relief in a few 
hours. Failing in this a free injection of olive oil into 
the oviduct may be used, care being taken not to break 
the egg. If no syringe is at hand the oil may be passed 
up with a feather, having first bathed the vent with 
warm water. The food should be soft and not of a 
stimulating nature. In case the egg passage should 
protrude or become ruptured, egg production should be 
totally arrested by giving the following : One grain 
calomel, one twelfth of a grain of tartar emetic and a 
quarter of a grain of opium, made into a pill, and ad- 
ministered every four hours. In the first pill the quan- 
tity of calomel and opium may be doubled. 

Elephantiasis or Scaly Legs. 

A rough scurf on the legs and toes of a horny sub- 
stance, resembling scales. Not dangerous but very 
unsightly, and some strains are more predisposed to 
this disease than others. It is considered by some to 
be also slightly contagious. Different opinions exis4 
as to its origin, but the treatment is simple and effec- 
tive. The diseased fowl should be provided with a dry 
and moderately warm shelter, and a vigorous scrubbing 
with soap and warm water, with a hard brush will re- 
move a great deal of the scuff. Then anoint the affected 
parts with sulphur and lard, and give half a teaspoon- 
ful of powdered sulphur internally. The washing and 
anointing must be continued daily until a cure is 
effected. Three or four applications daily of kerosene 
oil is also recommended as a wash, and the slackened 
scales removed with a blunt knife, after which anoint 

a 



78 

as above. A weak solution of the sugar of lead is also 
an excellent wash to be used in the morning, followed 
in the evening by an application of lard, mixed with 
ointment of creosote. It is desirable that the yards 
should be clean and free from mud, and the fowl kept 
from exposure to wet or damp of any kind. 

Ernptions. 
A whitish scurf or effloresence causing the loss of 
feathers, as far as it extends, generally results from 
lack of green food. This must be supplied and clean- 
liness attended to. The diseased parts should be 
dressed with tar and sulphur ointment, or a compound 
of cocoanut oil, one ounce, and powdered tumeric, 
quarter of an ounce. A dose of castor oil followed by 
a teaspoonful of powdered sulphur daily in the food for 
ten days, should also be given. If the sulphur should 
tend to make the fowl scratch or irritate the head be- 
fcr3 a cure is effected, the parts should be dressed for 
a few days with McDougall's Fluid Extract, diluted 
with three parts of water. As this affection is conta- 
gious, it is necessary to isolate the affected fowl. 

Feather Eating. 
This unnatural appetite, generally observed in the 
hen, is a source of great annoyance. It is probably 
the result of thirst, and also a want of exercise conse- 
quent upon close confinement. There seem to be no 
specific for this disgusting practice, as remedies which 
have cured in one instance have utterly failed in 
another. Indeed, it may be a question whether the 
cures which have supposed to result from the giving of 
remedies, have not rather been a natural withdrawing 



79 

of the disease itself than otherwise. External applica- 
tions would seem to be necessary in order to nauseate 
the unnatural appetite of the birds. The stumps of 
feathers should be extracted, and all the parts attached 
anointed with a stiff lather of carbohc soap. To give 
the birds occupation it is advisable to bury corn in the 
ground, or hang up a cabbage or lettuce by a string 
just within reach of the birds. A bran and linseed 
mash twice a week has been known to produce good 
effects. One fourth of a grain of acetate of morphia 
daily, with a grain of calomel twice a week in addition 
is a good sedative. The drinking water should contain 
enough carbonate of potash to give it a decided alka- 
line taste. Kaw bones crushed small, have been known 
to effect a cure and a sheaf of corn fodder thrown in 
the yards is said to be beneficial. It would be advisa- 
ble to seclude a fowl which manifests a wicked desire 
for this habit until the appetite becomes more natural 
from forgetfulness. 

The Poi'ltnj Bulletin says : From close observation, 
we very much doubt if it is the soft, bloody end of the 
feather that is craved for, but the hght, webby portion. 
In all cases we find the crop filled with this portion of 
the feather, and we have a number of times checked 
the trouble by giving the fowls a supply of finely cut 
rowen grass or hay. Where fowls have a run on grass, 
winter and summer, they do not indulge in this trouble- 
some habit, even if they have no animal food at all ; 
but confine them to a yard or house, no matter how 
large, if there be no grass or hay within reach, the 
trouble soon commences. 

Another writer gives a rather novel method by which 
an incorrigible Patridge Cochin Cockerel was inadvert- 



80 

ently cured. After giving him up as incurable, he put 
him in a run with twenty or more eockerels weeded out 
for killing. Instead of submitting to his cannibal 
tastes, however, these strangers made it ratheo: uncom- 
fortable for him, and to use an expressive "Westernism, 
caused him to " gyrate round the yard like a Chinese 
joss with the jim-jams," uttering doleful cries. He was 
completely cured, and never afterwards offered the first 
indignity to his hens. Perhaps, after all, a good 
thrashing like the above might prove a sovereign spe- 
cific for this offensive habit. 

Frost Bites. 

Large combed breeds especially suffer from having 
combs and wattles affected by frost. By oiling them 
with a sponge every morning, this may be prevented 
The best treatment of frost bite is a vigorous applica- 
tion of snow or very cold water, afterwards applying 
glycerine. Painting the frozen part with compound 
tincture of myrrh three times a day, is said to be ben- 
eficial. Turpentine is also recommended. 

Fledging. 

When the weather is bad and the chicks appear to be 
suffering much, the food may be seasoned with No. 3 
tonic, and the addition of tincture of iron to the water. 
Warm milk should also be given to drink. 

Fractures. 

A broken shank may be "set" without difficulty, and 
secured with a splint of porous brown paper, saturated 
with white of eggs, which hardens as it dries. A bro- 



81 

ken wing is best cared for by putting the feathers in 
position and binding tightly together about an inch 
from the end. But unless the accident occurred to a 
very valuable fowl, useful to breed from, the time and 
care necessary to successfully treat fractures are gen- 
erally unprofitably wasted. 

G-apes. 

, This disease is caused by the windpipe of chickens 
or young fowls being infested with worms, eventually 
causing suffocation. How the disease is propagated is 
a debatable question. The worm is usually found 
doubled, of a pale reddish color, and rather less than 
three-quarters of an inch long. The number in one 
chicken usually varies from two to a dozen. Dirt and 
damp have undoubtedly a predisposing effect, as it is 
well known that gapes rarely ever trouble a clean and 
dry yard. 

By many it is supposed that the worm is generated 
in some manner by lice or a similar parasite which in- 
fests the head of young chicks, and as a preventive the 
following ointment, applied very lightly on the back 
of the head, on the throat, and under the wings, 
in a melted or fluid state, at the time of taking chick- 
ens from the nest, is said to remedy the evil : Mer- 
curial ointment.. 1 oz ; pure lard, 1 oz ; flour of 
sulphur, J oz ; crude petroleum, 1 oz. It is stated on 
good authority that chicks anointed in this manner 
have never had the gapes, while others of the same 
broods not anointed, have been affected. Another 
method of keeping the chicks free from the parasites 
that are supposed to produce gapes is to apply once a 
week, under the wings and on the breast of the hen, a 



82 

small quantity of carbolic soap in solution. The effect 
of tlie ointment beginning to destroy the parasites, 
would seem to give color to the theory that gapes are 
the result of the presence of lice or similar vermin, 
and would also tally very well with the fact that the 
disease is comparatively unknown in clean and com^^ 
fortable quarters. A free use of carbolic disinfecting 
powder is an excellent preventive. The disease may 
be checked after it has entered the yard, by using fluid 
carbonate, camphor, or lime in the drinking water, and 
the affected bird made to inhale the vapor of carbolic 
acid by placing a few drops on a red hot shovel, and 
holding the 1 ird in the fumes until it is nearly suffo- 
cated. This kills the worms, and is an effectual cure. 
The worms may be taken from the throat, also, in the 
following manner : Take a medium soft quill feather, 
pluck the web from both sides to within a short dis- 
tance of the tip, and wet with a solution of 20 grains 
carbolic acid and one ounce of glycerine. Run the 
feather down the windpipe, give it three or four turns 
and quickly withdraw. Repeat two or three times with 
a new feather each time. The acid paralyzes the 
worms, and the glycerine sticks them to the feather, 
and they are thereby drawn out of the trachea. Tha 
feathers and all matter drawn from the throat of the 
fowl should be burnt, in order to prevent the exposure 
of the rest of the flock to contagion. 

Another remedy is to administer a kernel of black 
pepper to the chick affected, which is said to destroy 
the worm. 

Leg "Weakness. 
Young fowls of the larger breeds frequently outgrow 



83 

their strength, or from a lack of bony matter shown hy 
constant squatting about instead of walking or standing. 
To prevent the occurrence of this affection, give all 
young fowls plenty of bone dust or broken bones and 
oyster shells. When first discovered it may be checked 
and strength restored by giving "Parrish's Chemical 
Food," a tablespoonful to a pint of water. A little 
tincture of muriate of iron in the drinking water is also 
beneficial. 

G-out. 
This is a disease of the legs which can be distin- 
guished from leg weakness by the feverish condition of 
the legs. Eemove the bird to a warm and dry place*, 
give a dose of jalap or calomel to open the bowelsj, 
after which a half grain pill of extract of colchicum 
should be administered twice a day. The legs and 
joints may be well rubbed with sweet oil daily witk 
benefit. 

G-iddiness. 
Usually resulting from too high feeding, and likely to 
develop in apoplexy. Hold the head under a stream 
of water, and reduce the system by a dose of castor 
oil, and feed on sparer diet. 

Lice. 
To guard against the encroachment of lice and other 
like vermin, the walls of the sheds should be regularly 
washed every year with strong lime-wash, containing a 
pound of sulphate of iron to every three gallons, ap- 
phed hot from the slaking. A thorough syringing 
either with parafine or a solution of carbolic acid will 
also be efficacious in getting rid of the annoyance. 



84 

Carbolic acid is certain death to all insects, and is an 
invaluable aid to the resources of the poultry keeper. 

Experience proves that the free use of dry, sifted coal 
ashes is an excellent exterminator of these pests. The 
ashes may be sprinkled over the roosts, and a commo- 
dious box filled with this material should be provided 
for the fowls to dust in — a provision of which they 
seem to take pleasure in avaihng themselves. In 
making up nests for hatching, it is advisable to put 
ashes in the bottom and cover with clean straw. After 
the chicks make their appearance, the nests should be 
thoroughly cleansed and the straw and litter destroyed. 
In localities where coal ashes can not be easily procured, 
good dry sand may be substituted, in which carbolic 
powder or sulphur, or both, has been sprinkled. 

It sometimes occurs that, in spite of all precautions, 
the vermin accumulate to such an extent that the house 
becomes hterally alive with them. In such cases a 
thorough cleansing is necessary. All the hay and 
straw in the nests should be burnt, the hens driven out 
a ad the house closed tightly and fumigated with sul- 
phur. This may be done by putting a pound or so of 
brimstone in an iron ]Dot and dropping on it a piece of 
red-hot iron. Keep the house closed two or three 
hours, after which it should be well ventilated and 
swept out thoroughly. The walls, inside and out — in 
fact every place that can be reached — should be 
washed with hot water, in which has been dissolved 
potash, one pound to every quart of water. Then fol- 
low with kerosene oil. Fresh hay is needed for the 
nests, and assurance is made doubly sure by white- 
washing. This radical treatment is not accomplished 
without some trouble, but the result amply repays the 
labor. 



85 



To keep Lice out of the Hen-house. 

These ipests are about the worst the poultry keeper 
has to contend with, and I therefore give a simple cure 
if not an entire preventive. 

Take a Hot pan or iron pot, place it in the hen house 
and pour into it at least one pound of sulphur. Be 
careful not to inhale the fumes. Close all windows and 
doors and let the lice enjoy the^ atmosphere for about 
two hours. Then air the house and give it a good coat 
of whitewash, nor forgetting the roosts. Change the 
nests and you will find yourseK free from these pests. 

Indigestion. 
Loss of appetite, caused by feeding too highly 
seasoned food. The diet should be restricted to soft, 
well cooked food, twice a day, with fresh water in mod- 
erate quantities, containing the "Douglas Mixture.'* 
Where a run cannot be had, a Httle fresh grass cut fine 
is beneficial. If the disease does not yield to this 
treatment, give daily five grains of rhubarb, changed 
every fourth day for one of calomel. 

Liver Disease. 
Most generally observed in cold and damp localities. 
Indigestion is frequently the forerunner of this disease, 
and the remedies recommended in such cases should 
be appHed. If, however, the bird should take on a 
sickly, yellowish look about the head and comb, there 
is no doubt about a serious enlargement of the Hver. 
Alterative doses of mercury, followed by cod liver oil 
and Parrish's Food, may efiect cures where not deep 
8 



seated, but success cannot be expected where the 
morbid structures are of any considerable size. Poultry 
keepers should never breed from fowl affected in this 
way. 

Monlting. 

Moulting is the discarding of the summer coat of 
feathers and putting one on suitable for cold weather. 
Perhaps many poultry keepers have never cosisidered 
the great drain upon the system of the fowl during 
this change of covering. Not only do the regular flesh- 
forming, life-giving processes of nature have to be 
fulfilled, but an entire new coat of feathers has also to 
be manufactured. These feathers consist not of flesh 
and blood alone, but of component parts of mineral 
and animal substances. These substances are assimi- 
lated from the food, and unless birds can obtain such 
food as contain the necessary qualities, the work drags, 
is prolonged, and the poor fowl droops and grows 
thinner in the vain endeavor to fulfill nature's require- 
ments without the proper means to work with. The 
moulting season is the most critical period 6i the year 
for old fowls ; and yet, in ninety-nine cases out of a 
hundred, there is less care taken then than in the 
Spring, when everything is in their favor. Not only is 
an abundance of warming, nutritious food needed, but 
a tonic of some kind should also be given. Stale bread, 
sopped in old ale, given two or three times a week, is 
always beneficial ; but perhaps one of the best things 
is to use the Douglas Mixture, in the proportion of a 
teaspoonful to a pint of water, in the drinking fountain, 
and keep it by them during the whole time of moulting. 
A little hemp seed given every day is also beneficial, 



87 

and with these aids, and a little pepper on their food, 
with perhaps a little extra meat, or even a little ale 
during the few weeks the process lasts, there will rarely 
be any loss. With hardy kinds and good shelter such 
precautions are hardly necessary but they cost little 
and have their effect also on the early re-comraencement 
of laying. A tonic that is also recommended is gin and 
molasses, in proportion of three parts gin to one of 
molasses. A tablespoon ful is a dose for an adult fowl, 
giving it before feeding in the morning ; where the fowls 
do not appear to have an unusually hard time, twice or 
three times a week is sufficient. But where the fowls 
are in close confinement, they must have iro?i in some 
shape. A little treatment of this kind not only benefits 
the health of the fowl, but shortens the period of moult- 
ing fully one-third. In addition to that, the growth of 
feathers is stronger and heavier, and the fowls are thua 
better able to stand the cold of Winter. The appear- 
ance of the fowl is also vastly better, the feathers a^e 
lustrous, and appear as if oiled ; the bird takes on fat 
at once, and meets the cold weather with a vigorous 
health and strength which otherwise he might not have. 

Pip. I- 

The symptoms are a short, quick, spasmodic chirrup, 
repeated at short intCTvals. On examination a dark 
colored, dry, horny scale will be found on the end of 
the tongue. This is not the disease, as many suppose, 
but the results of the disease. In some cases, if not 
checked, the beak will turn yellow at the base, and the 
plumage become ruffled; appetite fails, and the bird 
mopes around and finally dies. A little cayenne or 
black pepper mixed with meal and administered three 



times a day will generally effect a cure. Another reme- 
dy is to apply chlorinated soda to the horny scale on 
the tongue. This will soften the crust, which will come 
off without difficulty. Feed soft food and give a dose 
of castor oil or other aperient. 



Rheuinatisin. 
Weakness of the legs, stiffness of the joints, contrac- 
tion of the toes are symptoms of this disease, which 
may be mistaken for cramps. The treatment is similar. 
The bird must be put in a warm and dry place, and fed 
with warm and rather stimulating food. The legs 
should be bathed in rather hot water containing some 
mustard, and afterwards dried. Half a grain of opium 
twice a day should be given internally. A little cooked 
meal every day is beneficial, and minute doses of oil of 
mustard have been of marked efficacy in some cases. 



Roup. 
Probably the amateur, and sometimes even the ex- 
perienced breeder, turns more anxiously to the treatises 
on this disease than to any other, for the reason that it 
is at once the -most annoying and destructive of the 
whole catalogue, though less to be dreaded now than 
formerly. Nearly all writers agree that roup results 
from exposure to damp, draughts and confinement in 
tainted coops. It is highly contagious, the germs of 
the disease being communicated by drinking or other 
contact. The symptoms of roup are at first identical 
with those of a severe cold; the discharge from the 
nostril, however, soon loses its transparent character, 
becoming more or less opaque, with a peculiar and 



89 

offensive odor ; froth appears in the inner corner of the 
eje ; the lids swell, and sometimes the eye-ball is en- 
tirely concealed. In very severe cases the cavity of the 
nose becomes filled with the diseased secretion, which 
cannot escape, owing to the small size and closure of 
the nostril, and then the face swells considerably. 

Tkeatment. — In this disease, nearly equal num"bers 
recover, under various modes of treatment, so far as re- 
lates to internal remedies. But in all cases the bird is 
at once to be isolated, and the water vessels immediate- 
ly disinfected. McDougall's Fluid Extract is excellent 
for this purpose. Warm, dry lodging and stimulating 
nutritious food are the first essentials to recovery. The 
eyes and head should be frequently bathed with warm 
water and remedial agents of some kind applied to the 
diseased membrane. This is somewhat difiicult, on ac- 
count of the nostrils being closed up, but may be over- 
come by inserting the point of a small syringe into the 
slit in the roof of the mouth and turning it rather to 
the outside for each nostril. Labarraque's solution of 
Chlorinated Soda is the injection most in use by a 
number of the best fanciers. Tegetmeier says he has 
used a few drops of a dilute solution (10 grains to the 
ounce of water) of s-alphate of copper, with very favor- 
able results. The internal treatment is a dose of castor 
oil, to be followed every morning and evening by a pill 
of balsam copaiba, 1 oz. ; liquorice, in powder, i oz. ; 
piperine, 1 drahm, with enough magnesia added to 
make the mass into sixty doses or pills. A few drops 
of tincture of iron or McDougall's Fluid Extract .should 
be added to the drinking water. 

We also present the following remedies, all of which 
are said to have effected cures in particular instances. 
Perhaps it would be well, in case a number of fowl ara 

8h 



90 

simultaneously attacked, to try them separately on dif- 
ferent birds. That which acted most promptly might 
then be applied to all. 

No. 1. — Powdersa e'aiphate of iron, ^ drachm ; capsi- 
cum powder, 1 drachm ; extract of liquorice, J oz. ; make 
into 30 pills. Give one at a time three times a day for 
three days ; then take J oz. sulphate of iron and 1 oz. 
cayenne pepper in fine powder. Mix carefully a tea- 
spoonful of these powders Avith butter, and divide into 
ten parts. Give one part twice a day. Wash the head, 
eyes, and inside of the mouth and nostrils with vinegar 
it is very cleansing and beneficial. 

No. 2.^— As soon as the bird shows the usual symp- 
toms, take it to a small room or outhouse, close the 
door and windows, take a shovelful of red-hot coals 
from the stove and on them sprinkle flour of sulphur 
(pounded brimptone). Let the bird inhale this gas for 
about ten minutes — it will cause it to sneeze, and the 
congealed matter will be blown or thrown up through 
the nostrils and so relieve the poor bird and its symp- 
toms. 

No. 3. — Bathe the head and throat in warm salted 
water, after which, with the thumb and finger open the 
eyes and wash them well with a rag saturated with 
salted warm water and then give a pill made of equal 
parts of cayenne pepper and prepared chalk. Follow 
this treatment every morning, and, if there be any rat- 
tling in the throat, give a teaspoonful of cod-liver oil 
every night. 

No. 4. — ^In the first stages of the disease give a dose 
of castor oil, which will generally effect a cure ; but if 
the mouth and tonsils have become ulcerated, several 
doses may be necessary, given twelve hours apart. 



91 

Use a small mop, dipped in vinegar, to cleanse the 
mouth, head, throat, and nostrils, after which dip a 
feather or mop in soft soap and touch every ulcer. 

No. 5. — Sugar of lead and pulverized opium, 20 grains 
each ; mix with one pint of soft water. With a small 
syringe inject warm water into the nostril of the sick 
bird and then inject the lotion. By using a small bent 
tube on the syringe an injection can be forced into the 
nostril through the upper part of the mouth. Feed 
with soft food only, giving plenty of chopped vegetablejj, 
and mix ale with the food. 

No. 6. — Bathe the head with tepid water and castile 
soap, removing all unhealthy secretions about the eyes, 
head or throat, and if there be any visible ulceration 
wash well with a strong solution of alum water, and 
give a bolus of lard and sulpur mixed as large as an 
English walnut, at the same time anointing the head 
well with the mixture of lard and sulphur. 

No. 7. — Wash the head with cresylic soap suds until 
the nostrils are opened and the eyes relieved. Then 
strip a feather to within half an inch of the end, and 
dipping it into diluted nitric acid, insert it into the 
nostril of the fowl. Two or three applications will gen- 
erally be sufficient. 

No. 8.— Five drops tincture of iron in a teaspoonful 
of water thrice a day. Feed the fowl with scalded food 
well seasoned with cayenne pepper. 

Undoubtedly the seeds of this disease are laid in the 
sudden changes from warm to cold nights, when the 
Summer changes to Fall, and the chickens are allowed 
to occupy their unprotected coops and wander about 
hungry and cold in the raw, early morning. This would 
especially tend to the development of roup if there 



92 

should be a continued spell of damp weather, for roup 
after all, is simply a chronic catarrh or cold. Upon 
the fii'&t indication of a change of weather in the Fall, 
the young chicks should be provided with warm, dry 
quarters, and not allowed their liberty in the morniEg 
until fed. A plentiful supply of good, nutritious food 
and tincture of iron added to their water, with a little 
sulphur in their soft food, will be found of great benefit. 
Prompt attention to these mattei s will eventually result 
in preventing the appearance of the roup — the dreaded 
scourge of the poultry yard. 

Rump-ail. 

This difficulty, occasioned by the badness and infec- 
tion of the hen house, has for symptoms, constipation, 
slowness in walk, troubled sleep, sad way, low head, 
drooping tail and bristling feathers. The chicken does 
not scratch, and finally a tumor forms around the rump. 
It is necessary to cut this tumor with a sharp instru- 
ment, and press it with the finger to expel the pus, 
then wash the wound with vinegar or stale wine, and 
feed with agreeable diet, like barley, bran, or boiled 
rye or lettuce. One of the first precautions to take is 
to purify the hen house. 

Scaly Legs. 

Under the head of Elephantiasis will be found some 
remedies for this disease, but having come across the 
following, it was decided to insert tLem : 

Dissolve a httle carbonate of soda (sal soda) in water 
and rub the feet and legs every day with this solution 
until the scurf is removed. After this is done and the 



93 

feet and legs become dry, anoint them well mth lard 
and sprinkle on some sulpliur or red precipitate, or 
they be made into an ointment before they are applied. 
Another remedy is to use an application of cocoanut 
oil or ttirmeric — the proportions are about one-fourth 
of an ounce of turmeric powder to an ounce of the oil ; 
this forms a yellow ointment. Apply it to the parts 
affected, and a few applications will be sufficient to 
effect a cure. 

Soft Eggs. 

If of frequent occurrence, a sign of over-feeding. 
Beduce the food and feed sparingly on mashed potatoes. 
In some cases, soft eggs occur from the entire absence 
of any material to form the shell. The fowl should be 
supplied with old mortar, burnt oyster shells pounded, 
or similar ingredients. Lime water is highly beneficial. 

Wry Tail. 

Carrying the tail to one side, strongly hereditary, 
and evidence of a weakly constitution. The surest way 
to cause its disappearance and prevent its recurrence is 
to get rid of the fowl altogether. 

Turkeys. 

The best preventive for sickness in these birds as 
well as to help them through the red is to mix finely 
cut onions or chives in their food, which ought to con- 
sist of Indian meal mixed with either milk or water, but 
small potatoes boiled and m ished with plenty of pepper 
may be used with raw onions chopped fine instead. 



94 

Kerosene as a Curative. 

"We have seen, recently, testimonials from so many 
quarters, as well South as North, as to the efficacy of 
kerosene oil in chicken cholera, as to inspire a hope 
that an unfailing remedy has at last been found for this 
hitherto most desolating disease. A Woodville, Miss., 
correspondent of the New Orleans Home Journal says : 
" I tried all the remedies mentioned in your paper for 
cholera, but none seemed to do any permanent good 
until I tried coal (kerosene) oil; this has effectually 
arrested the disease, and I am satisfied is a good thing." 
In addition to this, the editor of the Journal says 2 
" We had a pullet which was actually on its last leg{». 
not being able or willing to feed any more. Our bettei- 
half took some grits and mixed a sufficiency of kerosene 
with it to make into pills and crammed some of it down 
the throat of the fowl. The effect was almost instanta- 
neous, as, at the next feeding time it appeared with tho 
other fowls and participated in the meal, and sincei 
then has been constantly improving. We now feed 
corn mixed in kerosene oil three times a week, and 
since adopting this mode have had no new case o.i 
cholera. 

A correspondent writing to the Counlry Gentleman 
from Habersham County, Ga., says : *' I have found 
kerosene oil a cure for chicken cholera. Last year I 
lost my entire flock. This year, by soaking my corn in 
kerftsene, but one has died, although several have been 
sick." 

A recent number of the Southern Homestead gives the 
extract which we annex, from the pen of the editor, by 
which it will be seen that the curative power of kero- 
sene has been as prompt in giving relief to an equine 



95 

sufferer as to the pets of the poultry yard : " The 
peculiarly penetrating nature of kerosene makes it one 
of the best external applications for bruises, sore throat, 
diphtheria, etc., in man that can be employed, while for 
diseases in horses, such as big shoulder or other lame- 
ness, two applications, well rubbed on, wiU effect a 
cure. Only a few weeks ago we proved its efficacy in 
bots or grubs. We had a fine colt violently attacked 
with this dangerous disease, and after trying several 
remedies without rehef, as a last resort tried kerosene, 
rubbing the body thoroughly, producing an instantane- 
ous and permanent cure." 

Chlorate of Potash. 
For internal administration to fowls for canker or 
roup, or for common colds or cough, chlorate of potash 
is said to be very beneficial, and is at the same time a 
perfectly safe remedy to use. Water only dissolves a 
certain proportion and no more of the salt, and it 
should always be made as strong as it can be, which is 
making what is technically called a " saturated solu- 
tion." For convenience it is better to keep it prepared 
ready for use, as follows : Put in a half pint bottle an 
ounce of chlorate of potash and an ounce of crushed 
sugar, then fill the bottle with soft water and shake 
occasionally until no more will dissolve. The sugar 
seems to serve the double purpose of loosening the 
phlegm in the throat of the fowl and to disguise the 
saline taste of the chlorate, making it more easy of 
administration. Chlorate of potash will not only 
remove canker and ulceration in the mouth and throat, 
but cools and allays fever, and by its action in 
the stomach, destroys all traces of canker in the system 
of the fowl, thus rendering the cure a permanent one. 



fTj. 



96 

After using off the water more may be added, as long 
as any of the chlorate remains, adding sugar each time, 
as the sugar, unlike the chlorate, all dissolves the first 
time. Give adult fowls a teaspoonful of the solution 
two or three times a day, in severe cases giving it 
oftener if required. An ounce of the solution in a pint 
of water is a good remedy for common colds and for 
young chicks, to be given in place of drinking water, 
contiQuing for several days, or until a cure is effected. 

Charcoal. — It is claimed that, a free use of crushed 
charcoal will prevent the disease known as the enlarge- 
ment of the liver. It keeps the organs in a healthy 
state ; their fondness for it would indicate some benefit 
derived from its use, the same as in the case of gravel. 

Corn or corn meal is the cheapest and best food for 
fattening fowls. Oat meal, bran, and middlings are the 
best for the young, growing stock. 

Capsicum mixed with the food and assafoetida in the 
drinkiQg water is recommended for cholera in fowls. 




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